Fifteen
by jamesica
Summary: Though they've known each other since kindergarten, James Diamond and Blair Boleyn are little more than acquaintances. However, after a traumatic event occurs at the rivalry basketball game, the two start a relationship-in the midst of drama with backstabbing best friends, devious little sisters, and fallouts between friends. But will the end result be what they expected?
1. Chapter 1

_**Author's Note:**_** Hey, guys! So, this is my first story on here, and it's basically about the boys' freshmen year in high school. If you're wondering, this story will continually be in Blair's POV, so I won't need to put Blair's POV at the top of every section. I've been working on this for a while now, so if you could take the time to read through the first chapter, I'd really appreciate it. Please remember that this is the first chapter, so it's basically just introducing characters and plotlines. Also, I want to warn you all that I am extremely bad with tenses, especially when I am writing creatively, so please don't comment on that as I already know that I need to work on that. Just to give you an idea, the character of Blair Boleyn resembles Karlie Kloss, who is shown in a few pictures that are linked on my profile, along with some other important characters' appearances. Thanks, enjoy & review!**

**_Disclaimer: _****I don't own Big Time Rush, unfortunately. (As well as any other brands/companies, etc you may recognize).**

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_Beep. Beep._ I woke up pretty easily that day to my alarm, even though it was a Monday. Pressing the snooze button, I opened my eyes to complete darkness. I reached my arms out to stretch and almost immediately pulled them back down to wrap them in my comforter. Although I was inside, it was still another ridiculously cold day in Appleton, Minnesota, the temperature probably below freezing, yet again. But then again, what else was new? It was December, so obviously it wouldn't be summer weather, especially not in Minnesota. Come to think of it, we'd probably just had another blizzard last night.

I knew I was going to have to get up eventually, so I flung off my comforter and grabbed the first sweatshirt I saw. Why I went to bed without a sweatshirt puzzled me. And why was my fan on? I could be weird sometimes, I thought as I flicked off the switch that controlled the fan and instead flicked the light switch on. I groaned, the light momentarily blinding me. Even though I'd woken up relatively quickly today, I could tell already that it wasn't going to be a good day.

After a good 10 minutes of back-and-forth over what exactly I should wear, I ended up grabbing a turquoise dolman style long-sleeved top, a pair of dark wash jeggings, a chunky knitted bright purple oval scarf, and a rolled-over pair of grey Uggs, fur side out. Not feeling like doing much else, I sprayed something in my hair to de frizz it a little, and decided that my natural waves were good enough for today. As for my makeup, I simply did the usual; foundation, eye primer, a light-colored eyeshadow, mascara, and lip balm, sometimes lipgloss. I then brushed my teeth.

Now that I was done with my normal routine, I noticed that I had a considerable amount of time to kill before my ride to school got here, so I grabbed my MacBook Pro and opened it. I clicked immediately on Safari and then clicked on Facebook in the bookmark bar as a force of habit. I noticed that I had 3 notifications. I opened them, seeing that the first one was telling me that my best friend Ali had tagged me in a handful of pictures. Deciding to check that later, I saw that my co-captain for the JV cheer squad, Julie, posted in our cheer group. I clicked, wondering what it could be and why I didn't know about it yet.

**Julie Cameron:** Hey guys, practice is cancelled today, but don't forget that we have the huge game on Friday!

Weird. Usually, if one of us was told something like this, we would tell the other before posting about it. I reached for my iPhone, realizing when I unlocked it that she'd texted me about it yesterday. Oops.

I went back to my notifications, seeing that Ali had posted on my wall.

**Ali Connors: **lol at the pictures from last night…

Okay, now I might have to quickly look at those pictures. I went back up to my notifications and pressed to view all of the photos that I was tagged in. The first photo that popped up was one of me, Ali, and our friend Taylor. I realized that these pictures were from the party at my friend Dan's house that we'd all attended. The next one was of Ali and I, hugging but smiling toward the camera, the one after that was in the same position, but I was sticking my tongue out and she was making a duck face. They continued on like this, most of them of my friends and I hugging, or posing, with the occasional one of me on Dan's back. I remembered that he was ridiculously drunk, and had insisted on carrying me around the house.

I flipped through the pictures until I got to one picture and stopped. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary, just a normal picture of Ali, Taylor, my friend Cassidy, and I with our arms behind each others backs, but the weird thing was the guy on the end.

Was that…Logan Mitchell?

I squinted closer, trying to confirm this thought. It's not that I didn't know who he was, I'd known him since kindergarten, but I'd never talked to him. From what I'd heard, he was sort of nerdy, in the sense that he got really good grades and was really smart, but apparently, he was supposed to be really cool too. In the picture, he had his right arm around me, and was holding a red cup out to the left of him, but he wasn't smiling at the camera. Rather, he was laughing at someone in back of the camera man.

Hmm. Kind of weird. Oh well, it was one picture, who even cared? I shut my laptop and, realizing it was time to go, grabbed a banana nut muffin, my purple Jansport, and walked out the door just in time to see my ride pull up.

Finally, the end of the day had come. School was boring, as usual. I'd managed to get through the day without seeing Logan, who I was still hung up on for whatever reason.

I made my way down the stairs and saw Ali waiting in a hallway by the lockers. I always left school with Ali, our after school ride drove us both home. Today, Ali was wearing a tribal-print long-sleeved dolman top similar to mine, a pair of black leggings, some black UGGS, and today, her dirty blonde hair was straight.

"Hey." She said as I approached her.

"Wanna go to Starbucks or something? We don't have practice today." I suggested.

"Yeah, sure, let me just text Bri to tell her that we don't need a ride today." She pulled out her black iPhone. Once she was done, we put our bags down for a second to put our winter coats on. Mine was white with a brown fur-trimmed hood, hers was almost the same but it was navy blue. Thankfully, Starbucks was only a minute away, so we could make it there easily. Plus, it was a frigid day, and we both needed some warmth.

Unfortunately, when we got to Starbucks, everyone seemed to have the same idea because the coffee shop was packed. Luckily, it was a pretty big Starbucks, so there were a few open tables.

"Mint hot chocolate with whipped cream, please. Oh, and a smore." I smiled at the barista, handing over the appropriate amount. Yes, I ordered a smore; contrary to apparently popular belief, a lot of cheerleaders love to eat, especially unhealthy things. Obviously, I was one of them.

"Vanilla bean latte, a smore and…Do you want to split a slice of pumpkin bread?" Ali asked me. I nodded. I loved pumpkin bread, especially around the holidays.

"And a slice of pumpkin bread." She added, also giving the barista money. We walked over to the receiving counter, waiting for our orders. I glanced around, trying to see if I knew anyone that was here. At a quick scan, all I saw were 2 sophomores that I momentarily forgot the names of, a bored-looking senior named Jack typing on a laptop with a cake pop in his mouth, and 3 seniors named Kylie, Amanda, and Lila sipping coffees around a table. Besides that, I didn't see anyone else but…Logan Mitchell? Again?

This was the second time that he'd popped up randomly in my life today. Again, I took a second glance to make sure that it was him. Oh yeah, it had to be. I knew for sure because of the extremely good looking, tall and gorgeous boy sitting next to him, who was named James Diamond. While Logan was known as the nerd with swag, James was the freshman class's unmistakable pretty boy. He was self-obsessed, extremely cocky, kind of an airhead, and carried around a black comb with him at all times, and rumor had it, even a mirror.

James was also on the JV basketball team, which I only knew because he told just about everyone…and because I had to sit there during his games. Besides all of that, James was known as the freshman class's man-whore, and was rumored to have already slept with half of the girls in the grade. To me, that seemed a little exaggerated, but I knew for sure that he'd definitely gone out with at least half the girls in my grade. How Logan and James had become friends was beyond me, but there they were, sitting with 2 other boys.

I saw the grey beanie and knew immediately that it had to be Kendall Knight. He always wore that thing, and I could see dirty blonde hair peeking out from the bottom of the beanie. Kendall was captain of the JV hockey team. He was really, really good. Surprisingly, Logan also played hockey, on the JV team as well. I didn't know if James played or if he was any good, I just knew he wasn't on the team as it conflicted with basketball. I'd seen the two of them, as well as their friend, Carlos, play before. They were actually all good enough for varsity, even, but everyone knew that freshman weren't allowed on the varsity team. It was just common knowledge, for all sports, even cheer.

I knew that the last one had to be Carlos Garcia; process of elimination. The four of them were inseparable, and although his back was turned to me, I could tell by his helmet and short stature that it was him. Honestly, he kind of freaked me out sometimes. Not because he was weird, just because he could be really crazy and random. And a little dangerous at times.

Suddenly, Ali tapped my shoulder excitedly.

"Blair, oh my god, look! Oh my god, that's Kendall Knight! He's so hot." She gazed dreamily in his direction. I rolled my eyes. Leave it to Ali to go boy crazy. Kendall wasn't anything special to her, I knew that. Ali obsessed over any boy that was within 3 feet of her, generally.

"Cool, Ali. Let's go find a table." I took my hot chocolate and smore and tried to direct her to an open table. There was one problem. There weren't any.

"Great. Now where do we go?" She whined. I shrugged.

"Why don't we just go sit with Kylie, Amanda, and Lila?" She suggested. I snorted.

"Yeah, and why don't we go hang out with the Kardashians while we're at it?"

"Chill, just a suggestion." This was useless.

"C'mon, let's just walk back to school." I pulled her, at this point, just wanting to leave.

"Wait, let's go ask Kendall!" She told me, proud that she'd come up with something. I laughed hollowly.

"Um, let's not." I started to drag her out the door, but she resisted.

"Seriously, Blair? They're not even seniors or anything. Who cares if we don't really know them, let's go." This time, she took control, walking me over to the table.

"James, there's a reason why you're not allowed to have that thing during class." Logan sighed.

"First of all, my lucky comb is not a 'thing'. Second, I do not get distracted by it. That teacher just has it out for me." He replied.

"James, you forgot to take a test because you spent the entire class period trying to fix a piece of hair." Kendall reminded.

"Well, it wouldn't go down!" He protested.

"James, that's not an-" Logan stopped talking when we stopped at their table.

Kendall turned his head and stared at us.

"Um, hi?" He said, his green eyes filled with confusion.

"Hi, I'm Ali!" Ali told him excitedly. He laughed.

"Yeah, I know who you are. We've know each other since kindergarten, remember?"

"And this is Blair." She told them, seemingly oblivious to what he'd just said.

"Can we help you?" Logan asked, giving us a questioning look.

"Do you mind if we sit here?" Ali asked.

"You girls are hot and all, so no offense, but there are like, 30 other tables here." James pointed out. Clearly his airhead reputation wasn't too far off.

"Yeah, obviously." I said sarcastically, motioning to the lack of empty tables.

"I was just joking, babe." James tried to play it off.

"Sure you were." I muttered under my breath.

"So…?" Ali questioned, with a hopeful look in her eyes.

"Yeah, come sit over here, Ali!" Carlos replied excitedly. She smiled and plopped down next to Carlos. Unfortunately, the only seat left was in between James and Logan.

"Great." I breathed, reluctantly taking sitting in the seat.

"So, you're Blair, right?" James turned and flashed a thousand-kilowatt smile at me.

"Obviously." I rolled my eyes, was the boy deaf? Not only had Ali announced it a minute ago, we'd also known each other since kindergarten. "Forgetting" someone's name and then asking them it to try and start conversation? Classic player move.

"I'm James."

"Um, we've known each other since kindergarten." I restated, deciding that yes, he had to have some sort of memory issues if he couldn't remember that.

"I really don't know how I could've possibly forgotten _you_." He winked, and I heard mock-vomiting noises coming from Logan besides me.

"How many girls have you used that one on today?" I cocked my head to the side.

"Smart and sexy. I like it." He said smoothly, earning another gagging sound from Logan. I simply rolled my eyes.

"So, Blair. How about this Saturday, me, you, the movies, popcorn, and a dark, dark theater." He winked again. Logan gagged yet again, and I stifled a laugh.

"Is that the best you can do?" I challenged.

"I could be more straight forward if you want." He smirked.

"Entertain me."

"Let's go make out on Saturday." He shrugged, actually believing that I'd made it that simple.

"And your reputation precedes you even more."

"Huh?" He suddenly became extremely confused.

"It means you're even more like what she heard about you before she met you now that you said that." Logan interjected. At least someone around here knew something.

"Yeah, I still don't get it." James resigned. Logan and I simultaneously rolled our eyes.

"You're even more of a dick than she thought you were before, dipshit." Logan dumbed it down even more for James.

"You couldn't have just said that?" James asked frustratedly. Logan rolled his eyes and extended his hand to me.

"I'm Logan. Judging by your response to James earlier, I'm guessing you already knew that." I smiled slightly, at least he could pick up on things too.

"Perceptive, aren't you? Even though we already know each other, I'm Blair." I shook his hand and then released it.

"And you know how to be a gentleman." I smiled and stated so that James could hear.

"Hey, I can be gentlemanly!" James protested.

"Yes, because ordering someone to make out with them on Saturday is just so classy." I smiled sarcastically at him.

"I can be a gentleman, if that's what you want, baby." James said seductively.

"And that's why you don't get any normal girls." I concluded. Logan nodded in agreement.

"My girlfriends were all normal, thank you very much." James defended.

"If by normal you mean excessively slutty, then yes, they were definitely very normal." Logan added.

"Shut up, at least I've had a girlfriend."

"He's joking."

"No, he's not."

"Yes, he is." Logan reassured.

"James is not joking."

"He's joking."

"He's so not!"

"Would you stop talking in the third person?"

"Is that supposed to mean something?"

"You are an actual idiot."

"At least I've had a girlfriend!" James said again.

"Is that your comeback for everything now?"

"Maybe."

"It's stupid."

"It's still true. You've never even ki-"

"So you're a cheerleader?" Logan asked, cutting James off. I nodded, sipping my hot chocolate. I'll let the whole girlfriend thing go, for now.

"That's really cool. So are you the girl they throw in the air?" James interrupted. Weird. He actually seemed genuinely interested in something I did.

"You mean the flyer? Then yes, but I can back spot too." I laughed momentarily at his confused face. I looked to Logan, expecting to see him prepared to explain, but even he seemed confused when it came to this topic.

"The back spot is the girl that catches the flyer's torso and holds her ankles to make sure that she doesn't fall. She's the girl in the very back." I told them. They both sighed in understanding. James smiled, impressed. James Diamond, actually thinking about someone other than himself? Somebody pinch me.

"I play right center for hockey." And the conversation was back on him. I really shouldn't have gotten my hopes up much.

"And I'm starting point guard for basketball."

"You play basketball?" I asked sarcastically. He grinned proudly and nodded. I rolled my eyes; of course I knew he played. I had to sit there and watch him every game. There's really not much else to do during games, honestly.

"Yep. Varsity." I almost spit out my drink in actual surprise at this.

"Varsity? You're a freshman." I interrogated. There was no way James was on Varsity. He was probably saying it for attention, everyone knew that freshman didn't even get to try out for Varsity, much less make it. I wouldn't know if he actually was because I only really saw him at JV games.

"I guess I'm just that good." He said smoothly, flipping his hair as he did so. I hated that he was good enough to make Varsity.

"Don't get too impressed, the Varsity coach saw him make a really good play and asked him to fill in during one game at the last second. He's not actually on Varsity." Logan said, rolling his eyes at his friend's arrogance.

"Well, well. So I guess you're not on Varsity." I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Thanks a lot, Logan." He huffed, turning away.

"Does he do that all the time?" I faced Logan now.

"Whenever he sees a girl within walking distance. Apparently he's also a part-time Cuda model." Logan snickered.

"Hey! That was once, and in my defense, that girl was so hot!" James jumped into the conversation.

"Yeah, okay, James." Logan gave up.

"It was twice." He whispered into my ear a second later, causing me to giggle a little bit.

"So…are you guys coming to the big game on Friday?" Ali asked everyone, deciding to reinclude Logan, James and I in the conversation.

"We weren't planning on going, but if you guys are then we will, I'm sure." Kendall stated, earning collective nods from the rest of the guys.

"Wait, why are you guys going? Isn't that a Varsity game?" Carlos cocked his head to the side in confusion.

"Well there's a JV game right before that, which we have to be at, and also we want to support our teammates." Ali said.

"Plus, it's the biggest game of the year!" I added. Every year, there was a huge basketball game between Appleton High and our rival school, Alexandria High. Last year, Alexandria beat us by 2 points, so this year, tensions are high. The game on Friday was sure to be the biggest yet.

"I still can't believe we lost by 2 points last year! 2 points!" Ali yelled angrily.

"Damn Aardvarks." Kendall muttered. As you might have been able to tell, people were pretty intense about the whole rivalry thing that was started years ago.

"Well, thanks to James, we can win this year." I glanced at him expectantly. He shot me a puzzled look.

"I thought we went over this, I'm not actually on Varsity…" He reexplained.

"I know that, but there's still the JV game, and the least we can do is beat them in that so we have something to rub in their faces. James is the best player on the JV team." I informed the entire table. Logan snickered, while Carlos simply looked confused. Kendall whispered something in Carlos's ear, and he perked up, seeming to understand now.

"And since James is apparently so good, he can lead the JV team to victory!" Ali continued happily. James's eyes grew wide, obviously aware that he wasn't that good.

"Yeah, James, lead us to victory!" Kendall mimicked, thrusting his fist in the air. This got him a small punch in the arm from Ali, who obviously wasn't upset, but probably just wanted an excuse to touch Kendall.

"I think James is just scared because he knows that he's not that good." Carlos smirked.

"I am good!" James yelled defensively, causing Kylie, Amanda, and Lila to look over and look at him strangely. He turned away, embarrassed.

"If you're so good, then you wouldn't have a problem with betting on it, right?" I challenged, staring him down. James gulped semi-loudly but then regained his cool.

"What are we wagering?" He shot back, regaining confidence. I looked over to Kendall for a suggestion, and he immediately chimed in.

"If the JV team loses, you have to wear a dress of the girls' choice on Monday." He folded his arms over his chest, satisfied. James gasped in horror.

"And, you have to be Ali and my's servants also." I added, making a greater look of horror replace the current one on his face.

"No way!" He refused, turning away from us with his arms folded over his chest.

"Well, obviously James isn't man enough to do it, so…" Logan began. That did the trick; James whipped his head around.

"Not man enough? I am the most manly out of all of you! Not to mention the most attractive."

"Well I would hope you'd be more manly than Blair and I." Ali laughed.

"Fine, I'll do your stupid little bet. But if we win, which means that I win the bet," James began, a devilish smile forming on his face, "one of you two," he motioned to Ali and I, "has to be my girlfriend for a whole week."

"Wait a second, that's unfair!" I protested.

"Yeah, we only have you doing things for a day, so that doesn't work." Ali backed me up.

"The guys are gonna torture me for weeks if I have to wear a dress to school! I think a week is well deserved!" James screamed.

"He's got a point." I glared at Logan, now he decided to step in? I then sighed in realization that he was right. It would only be fair.

"Fine." I grumbled, but I knew that it wouldn't have to come to either of us being his girlfriend, because he probably wasn't as good as he said he was. I'd never really paid that close attention to James specifically during games, and one lucky play that landed him on varsity for a day didn't mean anything. Like I said, it was a lucky play.

James extended his hands to Ali and I, who shook them. At the same time, a beep emitted from Ali's iPhone. She picked it up and glanced at the screen before setting it back down.

"Blair, Bri's here to pick us up." She told me, grabbing her empty cup and cake bags and throwing them out.

"When did you text her?" I hadn't seen Ali even pick up her phone since we'd gotten to the table; she was too infatuated with Kendall.

"When I told her we were coming here. There's still Varsity practice today, so she's leaving now anyway." I shrugged and threw my trash out, both of us putting on our jackets and getting our schoolbags.

"See you guys Friday!" Ali waved goodbye to the guys, who seemed to be getting ready to leave as well.

"Bye!" Carlos yelled back excitedly, and then was told to calm down by Kendall and Logan. James was fixing his hair, as usual.

We walked out of the door to Starbucks just in time to see a white Infiniti sedan pull up. We both got into the car to go home, knowing that by Friday, one of us would no longer be single.

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**So, what do you guys think?! I know it's just an intro and doesn't really cover anything that the summary discusses, but those things will come up later in the story! Also, I wanted to make it clear that the character of Blair is loosely based off of me, even though I am clearly not wildly popular and do not attract the attention of gorgeous boys that resemble James Maslow. I intended for Blair and I to be similar in many ways, but I wanted to make her have more of a charmed life, so that the fallout would be better when everything came crashing down. I think that's about all I wanted to say, except maybe to review and let me know what your thoughts were, anything I can improve? **

**xoxo, Jess**


	2. Chapter 2

**_Author's Note: _****So...I decided to post the second(admittedly shorter) chapter to "Fifteen" literally 2 seconds after I posted the first one. Why, you may ask? I hate reading multi-chapter stories that only have 1 chapter in them, so I decided to give you guys a little extra reading and post Chapter 3 when I get a review or two. This chapter is basically included to develop Blair & Logan's relationship a little, and introduce some of Blair & Ali's friends/show a little filler lunchroom scene. **

**_Disclaimer:_**** Still don't own BTR, or any other companies, etc, mentioned in this chapter.**

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3 more days passed, and it was Thursday, which meant the game was tomorrow. It also meant that the entire school was crazy pumped; homemade banners and posters filled the walls, lockers of basketball players were decorated to the point that they could hardly open them, and after parties were being promoted like crazy.

I walked through the hallways, swerving around a banner that had fallen, only to run into Logan.

"Watch where you're…oh hey." He said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Sorry, there's a little bit of a banner collapse back there." I pointed to the half-fallen banner. He laughed.

"Cleanup on hallway three." He joked. I chuckled a little to humor him.

"Yeah, they do tend to go a little crazy with this spirit stuff." I agreed, picking a piece of green confetti out of my hair.

"Aren't you supposed to love all this stuff? You're a cheerleader."

"I do, but this," I motioned to the mess of a hallway, "is way too extreme for me."

"Agreed."

"So…going to any after parties?" I asked, trying to make conversation.

"Yeah, I think at this kid Dan's house. I was there last Saturday, it wasn't bad." He told me. The picture flashed through my mind.

"Oh, I was there too. I'm probably gonna go to Dan's too, he's the only freshman party that I know of."

"No, what about Evan Little? I heard he's having a rager." Logan said jokingly.

"Evan Little? That tiny little kid that's president of the chess club?" I could barely contain my laughter. He nodded.

"Yeah, he invited me, said he's gonna have soda there, so it's obviously gonna get wild." He said in between laughs.

"I changed my mind, we're gonna go party it up at Little's." I almost fell over from laughter. We continued laughing for a minute before realizing that lunch had started.

"So I guess I'll see you at the game?" He said before beginning to walk to his table.

"See you there." I responded, making my way to my own table. At our school, the tables were round so that everyone could talk and so that nobody felt left out by having to sit on the end. I sat in the last open spot, next to my really good friend Rachel.

I took my lunch out of my backpack and started to open my yogurt, when I felt twelve eyes land on me. I looked up and gave everyone at the table a weird look.

"What?" I asked, annoyed that everybody either seemed to know something about me or wanted to know something and they wouldn't tell me.

"Logan Mitchell? How do you know him?" My good friend Ashley interrogated. I stared at them all. Were they seriously interrogating me because I had a two second conversation with Logan?

"Relax, I went to Starbucks yesterday and saw him there." I told the truth, or at least some of it. Normally, I would've included Ali in this confrontation too, but she had a different lunch period.

"So you guys, like, talked? Do you like him?" Another friend, Lia, speed-asked, hunger for gossip in her eyes.

"Can everybody calm down? And for like 2 seconds, yeah." I said hotly, feeling invaded.

"And we weren't on a date, if that's what you're thinking. We're acquaintances." I said finally. Friends. Point-blank. That was it. I opened my Fiji water bottle and began to take a prolonged sip.

"Well I heard that James Diamond was there too, and that he definitely likes you." Lia said knowledgeably as she took a spoonful of her blueberry yogurt.

I almost spit out my water at this. Instead, I momentarily choked, but stopped after a second or two.

"What!?" I asked, shocked that she'd even said that. She nodded her head as if it was no big deal.

"Yeah, Dan said that James was totally talking you up after basketball practice on Tuesday."

"And Dan told you this?"

"Obviously, we're only going out." Lia replied with a "duh" look on her face. This didn't come as a surprise to me, since they'd been going out for 2 or so months now, so I was used to him telling her stuff, but this? Dan always used to tell me anything he'd heard first. We're best friends, and as my best friend, shouldn't he have at least told me something that he heard about me?

"So…?" Taylor started, her expression indicating that she wanted me to tell her more.

"So what?" I snapped, annoyed that Dan had told Lia something about me before, well, me.

"So, do you like him?" Taylor answered as if it was obvious.

"Ugh, will you guys give it a rest? This is ridiculous, I walk into lunch talking to someone other than Dan, and suddenly I have a new boyfriend. Some random guy says that he thinks I'm cute and now we're a thing. For your information, no, I do not like James Diamond, okay. That's it. The end." I sat back down, a grumpy expression on my face. The table sat in silence for two minutes until Lia spoke.

"If you care, he apparently also said that you guys would be going out by tomorrow." Lia added, not making eye contact with me. I looked back down at my lunch, remembering the bet. Why did I have to do that? I desperately needed the Alligators to win, but if they did, it meant that either Ali or I would be dating James. The way things were looking now, it was more likely to be me. And then what would I tell my best friends? Maybe I could tell them an abridged version of the bet, without really mentioning the bet itself.

"I don't know, he's sort of cute." I mentioned nonchalantly, sparking the attention of everyone at the table.

"So you like him?" The sixth member of the table, Morgan, blurted out. Again, six pairs of eyes were on me.

"Maybe a little bit." I admitted. It's not like it wasn't true. He was gorgeous, there was no doubt about it, the problem was his personality, which was a little too conceited for my liking. But right now, I knew that there was an actual possibility that I had to date him in a day, so I focused my thoughts on his perfectly styled hair, his hazel eyes that gleamed when you looked into them, his defined cheekbones, his lusciously tanned skin, and most of all, his beautiful, naturally red lips…

"Oh my god, soon I can say that my best friend is dating James Diamond! The James Diamond!" Taylor exclaimed, swooning at the mention of his name. Heck, even his name was perfect. It was easy to pronounce and suave, just like James himself.

Everyone except for Cassidy, who had always had a huge crush on James, squealed and began obsessing over the fact that the hottest guy in the school-arguably of course-was interested in me.

"You have to look perfect for the game tomorrow." Rachel told me excitedly.

"I'm doing your hair and makeup, no excuses." Lia, who was also a cheerleader, told me before I could object.

"Okay."

"But, if we help you with James, you have to help us with something." Ashley said. I raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"You have to introduce us to his friends. If you don't want Logan, I do." Ashley responded, making everyone laugh.

"If you want. But there's only 2 available, Ali's already got her eye on Kendall." I knew that Ali had definitely claimed Kendall as her own on Monday, so I made sure to make it known that she was interested. There was a collective groan from the table.

"Dammit, that's the one I wanted!" Taylor groaned as we all laughed again.

The majority of the rest of the lunch was spent discussing the game tomorrow, James, and his friends.

All in all, it wasn't a bad period.

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**Yeah, so this was a bit of a filler, as I said in the first Author's Note. Also, I'm not sure if Blair comes off as a little cliche and snobby to you guys, but like I said, I wanted to make it seem as if her life was near perfect, only to have it come crashing down. Anyway, I will post the third chapter after I get 2 reviews and a few reads. Actually, I'll probably post it sooner just because I know that I hate when authors don't update for a while. **

**xoxo, Jess**


	3. Chapter 3

**_Authors Note: _****Hey guys, I decided to put up this chapter because I feel like I got a good amount of reads, even though it might not seem like a lot to some of you. There are also 2 people now following this story, which is really cool considering I only posted this yesterday. I just wanted to say thanks for reading to the people who are still reading at this point, and to please let me know what you think of the story by reviewing. Your reviews don't have to be insanely long, even a sentence would be good. Thanks for reading again, and enjoy Chapter 3!**

**_Disclaimer:_**** If I really owned Big Time Rush, do you think I'd be sitting here, typing a disclaimer?**

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"I hate gym." Ali complained, flinging her gym locker open.

"Same." I agreed. Gym was such a waste of time, and besides, it only counted for half a credit. It would make more sense if they would just let us take a different elective instead of gym so that we could get credits and actually learn something.

"Hey, at least our locker room smells decent." Morgan pointed out. Since all of the girls sprayed body sprays on themselves after gym, practice, etc, the locker room didn't smell as bad as it could.

"I heard you literally need a gas mask to go into the boys." Ali overexaggerated. I rolled my eyes; clearly, it wasn't that bad. I think.

"Crap! I forgot my shorts. Do you guys have an extra?" Ali and I shook our heads no to Morgan, who was frustrated. Our gym uniform consisted of a plain white shirt and green shorts, with sneakers.

"Just borrow Cass's or something." I said nonchalantly.

"God, I'm an idiot." Morgan sighed, racing over to Cassidy's locker. We all knew to borrow her stuff in times of need because she didn't lock her gym locker. She pulled out a pair of hunter green Soffe shorts.

"GIRLS! YOU HAVE 5 MINUTES TO GET CHANGED, NOT 50! LET'S GO, LET'S GO!" Miss. Alcotti, our girl gym teacher, screamed through the door to the locker room.

"I hate her. So much." Ali stated as she re-locked her locker. I did the same, quickly lacing up my sneakers. Morgan, somehow, was already done changing, even though she'd started after us. The three of us exited the locker room rapidly, running to our coed gym spots.

"Blair! Blair!" Morgan suddenly slapped my lower arm repeatedly, eyes widened.

"Morg! What?" I grabbed her wrist to stop her from slapping me. She simply looked behind me expressionless, so I turned around to see James Diamond, sitting right next to my spot. He was casually relaxing on the gym floor, laughing along at something some guy in our grade had said. Oh god, was he sexy. What? Stop it, Blair.

"What the hell?" I whipped my head back around and yelled through gritted teeth toward Morgan and Ali.

"When did _he_ transfer into this class?" I asked desperately. Of course, he had to be in the one class I hated, that I wasn't that good at. Of course.

"How would I know? I just saw him sitting there." Morgan fired back.

"Oh my god. He's gonna be sitting right next to you." Ali realized, Morgan's eyes widened again.

"Perfect." I muttered under my breath as I walked off and sat down in my spot, which, of course was right next to James.

"Hey." James stopped whatever he was saying to the random guys to say hi.

"Hey." I responded.

"I didn't know you were in this gym class." I mentioned casually.

"Just transferred in today. I'm sure you're happy about that." He responded cockily. I rolled my eyes at the typical comment.

"Uh huh."

"So…you going to the game on Friday?" He asked, somehow forgetting the bet we'd made just days before.

"Kind of have to." I reminded him, and he laughed in response.

"Right, right. The bet and all." He said absentmindedly, almost losing his cool for a second. Weird how he could be smooth as butter one second, and completely awkward the next.

"ALRIGHT KIDS, WE'RE GOING TO WARM UP FIRST! GET UP!" James and I both groaned simultaneously, earning a look from Ali, who was only a few spots behind me. Everybody stood up and stood in their lines.

"HIGH KNEES!" Miss. Alcotti yelled. Great, those aren't embarrassing at all. I sighed and began to skip, James alongside of me. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw James's perfect form when he was skipping with high knees. How could he be so good at this, while at the same time, looking flawless? I didn't understand. Like at all. We reached the end of the gym and waited for the next call.

"Lunges!" The other gym teacher, Mr. Young, thankfully the one that wasn't as loud, yelled. I pulled myself into a lunge, switching legs as I gradually moved across the gym, sneaking looks at James again. What was I doing? I couldn't be any more obvious. James caught my eye for a second and smirked knowingly. I rolled my eyes in response, trying to pretend like I hadn't just been caught staring at him.

"KARAOKE!" Crap. I hated that exercise, it was so easy to mess up. I stepped carefully for the first foot, but eventually, my need to glance at James again took over. He was really good at this, of course. His feet moved perfectly in sync, never missing a beat. Somehow, his gorgeous hair stayed in place, occasionally moving a str-

"Ahhhh!" I yelled as I tripped over my leg and face planted in front of the whole class. I heard loud laughing around me as a tanned, muscular hand reached down to me. I picked my face up from the floor to see James offering his hand. I stared at him, embarrassed.

"Enjoying the view a little too much, huh?" James smirked, and my expression quickly changed. I rolled my eyes, but accepted his hand. The second I got up, however, I snatched my hand away from his.

"You wish, Diamond." I scoffed.

"Whatever you say, Boleyn." He laughed, walking back to the lines. Then, he suddenly turned around, a more worrisome look on his face.

"Oh, are you okay?" _Now _it occurred to him to ask if I was okay?

"I'm fine, thanks." I shot back sarcastically, earning a confused look.

"Just asking." He said defensively. I stormed back into line.

"Today, we'll be playing soccer. Everybody line up, we'll put you into teams." Mr. Young ordered. We all formed a straight line, everybody strategically standing so that they could be on teams with their friends.

"Blue." He pointed at me. I walked over to the blue team, unenthusiastic to see the one and only James Diamond standing there with a blue pinney in his hand.

"Great." I groaned, making eye contact with Ali, who was unfortunately on the yellow team.

"Sorry." She mouthed back at seeing James was on my team.

"Boleyn! Have a nice fall?" James shouted out to me, earning laughs from some of the random guys that were surrounding him.

"No, but I think your hair's out of place, Diamond." I shot back, knowing that he was more concerned with his appearance than anything else. James tried to fight the urge to check, but ended up quickly palming his hair and trying to keep it in place.

"Diamond, would you like us to wait for you to finish your hair? Or can we start playing now?" Mr. Young asked sarcastically. Everybody laughed while James rolled his eyes, but nodded in response.

"Alright, you all know the rules, don't get violent, no hands, blah, blah, blah." He didn't seem like he wanted to explain the rules much. He blew the whistle shortly and the game began. Everybody sprung into action, either trying to get the ball or kicking it toward the other sides. I preferred to stand around and wait until the ball was passed to me.

I watched as James maneuvered the ball around his opponents. Damn, he was good at everything, wasn't he? He swiftly passed the ball to a kid in my grade, who sent the ball straight through the other team's goalie's legs. Goal. Everybody on my team cheered.

"C'mon girls, let's get out there!" Miss. Alcotti screamed. I looked at her like she was crazy, had she seen these guys? They were kicking that ball like their life was dependent on it. I don't know if this was how they normally played, but it was more like a death match than a soccer game. And me, get involved and get killed? No thanks.

"Boleyn! Stop standing around and do something!" She screamed again. I sighed and jogged up the gym a little bit, not intending to get more involved than this.

James was in control of the ball again, much to everyone's surprise. That was sarcasm. If you couldn't tell. He kicked the ball up a little bit and suddenly became surrounded by people from the other team. He looked around in desperation, and his eyes landed on me.

"Blair!" James realized that I was on his team, and he sent the ball flying over to me.

"James!" I screamed back, why would he ever pass the ball to me? He shrugged, but then turned to his friends and laughed at me with the ball. Of course. This was all a joke to him and his friends. Okay, now I had to make it in.

I stopped the ball with my foot and kicked it lightly toward the goal. I saw a lot of people beginning to surround me, so I took a chance and kicked the ball toward the goal. It sped straight toward the goal. Oh god, I wasn't going to make it in. Not that I really cared, but everybody would have a field day if I missed the easy goal.

Luckily, the ball zoomed past the goalie, causing the blue team to cheer. Including James. He grinned in surprise to my goal and made eye contact with me, winking, causing me to blush slightly. James quickly gave me a thumbs up, shook his long hair, and resumed playing.

After 10 more minutes of intensity, the gym teachers blew their whistles and dismissed us to go change. Thank god. I began to walk off to the locker room, and meet up with Ali and Morgan, when I heard someone call me from behind.

"Blair!" I spun around to see James jogging over, waving and smiling slightly. Why was he coming over?

"Uh, hey." I smiled awkwardly, as we'd never really talked before Starbucks the other day, and nothing huge had happened since then.

"Nice goal today. Nobody really thought you'd get it past Ryan." I raised an eyebrow, was that a compliment?

"Thanks?" I shrugged, making to walk away.

"We should just skip all this." He spoke suddenly. I raised both of my eyebrows now. What?

"Skip what?" He laughed, leaning against the gym wall casually.

"C'mon B, you and I both know there's no use in keeping up this little bet when it's obvious who I'd choose."

"So this is about the bet now?"

"Let's just forget about it, go out on Saturday or something. Sound good?" He propositioned. Suddenly, I realized what he was doing. Trying to get out of the bet. I wasn't gonna let him go that easily, though.

"Are you sure you actually want to go out with me? Cause it sounds more like you're trying to get out of the bet." I cocked my head to the side, knowing I'd caught him. James paled a little bit, careful not to lose his cool.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He defended easily.

"Is _the _James Diamond scared of losing? And having to wear a dress, in front of _everyone_?" I taunted.

"Actually, _I_ think that _the_ Blair Boleyn is more scared of having to date _me_ for a week. In _public_." He shot back.

"And why would I ever be scared of anything having to do with you?" I laughed.

"Because I'm James Diamond," He said cockily, "and I'm the most attractive guy in the ninth grade, maybe in the whole school." I rolled my eyes, could he get any more arrogant?

"Hardly. Kendall beats you any day." I narrowed my eyes at him, even though I knew perfectly well that that wasn't true. Well, in my opinion anyway.

"Lies."

"You wish."

"Please, Kendall's got gigantic eyebrows, what girl in their right mind would want that? Unlike mine, which are perfect, no procedures necessary." He smirked. Okay, so his eyebrows were pretty perfect, but I would admit that to him over my cold, dead body.

"Well, I'd still choose him over you." I folded my arms over my chest confidently.

"Oh, really? Give me one decent reason."

"Easy, he's got a heart." I said without hesitation. And that was why I'd never date James; he was way too self-obsessed and materialistic to be concerned about other people. And he'd never change.

James laughed softly, almost as if he didn't believe me. And then he walked closer to me, brushing my shoulder slightly.

"One thing you'll learn, sweetheart, is that nice guys always finish last." James said under his breath, warm air hitting my skin. He pulled away, winking, and then he turned around and walked back to the locker room.

Douche.

* * *

**So, what did you guys think of this chapter? Do you think Blair will give in and accept James's persistent efforts to go out with her? Who do you think will win the bet? What do you think of the characters so far, including the new ones, such as the two gym teachers? Ms. Alcotti was actually kind of inspired by one of my gym teachers who takes gym ****_wayyyyy_**** too seriously, if you were wondering lol. Anyway, please review!**

**xoxo, Jess**


	4. Chapter 4

**_Authors Note: _****Hey, guys! I received a few more reads, and even a review, which made me so happy! I just wanted to take a quick second to respond to that review here:**

**To Mel: Thanks for reviewing! I appreciate it so much! As for your thoughts as to who Blair should date, I know that it says in the summary that she and James will eventually form a relationship, but I wouldn't count Logan out just yet. Also, I know that in the TV show, James is portrayed as a player who's not very smart, but that's not how I'm looking to portray him, even though it may seem like that right now. :)**

**This is going to be a longer chapter that goes into the rivalry basketball games while also introducing a new very important character. Also, this chapter leads into a huge plotline that will change the story a lot. **

**_Disclaimer:_**** If I owned Big Time Rush, I would make Carlos end his Twitter break, but I don't, so hopefully he'll come back on soon. **

* * *

Today was the day. The big game was finally here, and it was complete chaos. The walls were so covered with posters that I couldn't even see their original color. It was so hectic and out of control, that some people actually refused to go to class. Eventually, the staff had gotten them back in their classrooms by threatening to forfeit the entire game tonight. Realistically, we knew that would never happen; the game was way too important and there was no way that the school would stand for that. They only came back because they didn't want to take that chance.

Hands down, the worst part of the whole school day was trying to get to classes. In between periods, during the 3 minutes that we had to get to class, somehow the basketball players managed to hold entire pep rallies, complete with loud music and chant sessions.

It was the transition between 4th and 5th period now, and in all honesty, I just wanted to get to the safety of my next class without being forced to cheer or something.

Finally, after dodging a few flying basketballs, I saw the classroom door. Breathing in a sigh of relief, I was almost at the door when-

I tripped. Over a basketball.

Yes, I seriously just tripped over a basketball and landed face first on the floor.

"Do you need some help?" A deep, sultry voice questioned. I pulled my head off of the floor and turned around, staring into the face of the Varsity basketball captain, Jake Bass. I stared up at him for a good 4 seconds before I snapped out of it and nodded meekly, not sure what else to really do.

"Yeah, sorry about that basketball." He apologized as he pulled me up, barely even exerting any strength to do so. I dusted myself off, looking awkwardly at the ground.

I don't usually get shy. But in my defense, Jake Bass was hands down _the_ hottest guy at our school. Yes, even hotter than James, who obviously hadn't developed as much as Jake did. He was a senior and star of the basketball team, was 6"5 and pretty muscular and toned. It's not like I'd stared at him multiple times while watching Varsity games or anything.

For the first time today, I was at a complete loss for words. Luckily, Jake started talking before I could embarrass myself further.

"Are you okay? Do you need to go to the nurse or something?" He asked, surveying me. Oh my god, Jake Bass was checking me out. Okay, so not technically, but he was looking at me, which had to count for something.

"Uh, no. I'm okay, thanks." I managed to say, remembering to smile at the end.

"Oh, I'm Jake, by the way." He introduced himself, extending a hand which I gladly took. Please. As if I didn't know his name.

"I'm Blair." I let my hand linger in his for a second more than necessary, enjoying the warmth of his hands. Oh god, was I blushing? Please don't let me be blushing.

"Well I gotta go, but I'll see you tonight, I guess?"

"Yeah."

"Watch out for any more basketballs, okay?" He joked, going back down the hallway and heading to his next class. I laughed under my breath, still in disbelief over the fact that I had just touched Jake Bass.

What was I getting my hopes up for? Everyone knew that Jake didn't date underclassmen, much less a freshman. I decided that telling my friends wasn't a good idea. Look at how they'd reacted to James…and even Logan for that matter! I could only imagine what they'd say if I told them that Jake Bass now knew that I existed. So I wouldn't tell them.

I only hoped they wouldn't find out first.

"ARE YOU READY, FOR A GATORS VICTORY, CAUSE WE ARE READY FOR YOU!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, clapping three times after the cheer and then repeating it two more times.

"C'MON GATORS!" I screamed at the very end, looking more specifically at James, who, unfortunately was doing really well even though it was only 5 minutes since the start of the game. He'd already scored three times, and the other team only twice, meaning it was 6-4, us in the lead. I really, really hoped that he would get thrown off somehow, because if I had to date James for a week, I knew that any chances of me with Jake Bass would be gone immediately. I couldn't risk that. So I just prayed and hoped for the best.

"And that's a three pointer from James Diamond!" The announcer blared from the loudspeaker. It was now 21-14. Holy shit. This was not good. At all. It was now almost halftime, meaning that if we kept it up, we would have a huge lead for the second half. Determined to focus my anger on something else, I decided to initiate a cheer.

"Dribble it, alleyoup." I told Julie, who quietly told the rest of the team.

"Hit it!" I screamed, preparing to cheer.

"DRIBBLE IT, ALLEYOUP! AND SHOOT IT THROUGH THAT HOOP!" I cheered, making sure that all of my moves were tight. We repeated this two more times and then finished the usual way, by screaming something peppy, along the lines of, "Go Gators!", or, "Let's go, boys!"

"James Diamond's dangerously close to the hoop now…wait, now he's blocked pretty badly." I watched intently as James passed the ball between the shoulders of the two guys that were blocking him to his teammate, who shot and scored.

"Matt Allen with a basket!" The announcer yelled as the stands erupted in screams.

Suddenly, a loud, ear-splitting buzzer sounded through the gym.

"And that's halftime!" I stood up, ready to do our halftime routine.

"Let's welcome our very own Appleton High School Junior Varsity cheerleaders!" The announcer screamed one last time before pressing the button to start our routine music. A remix of Ke$ha's "Blow" began to blast through the speakers as I got into position in front of Ellie, my back. Ali and Lia were already ready.

I heard my cue and thought to myself, "down, up, down, in." As I jumped into Ali and Lia's hands, pulling myself into a scale as they extended me. My next cue sounded as I cradled perfectly, preparing myself for the next stunt, a basket toss. Ali and Lia knitted their hands together to form a square as the tips of my toes hit their knuckles. They sent me flying, and I had to remind myself quickly to pop before I landed back into Ellie's arms.

The rest of the dance didn't really require any thinking, and when I finished off with a scorpion in an extension, I felt on top of the world. That was honestly the effect that cheer had on me. I felt invincible when I was flying, and nobody could take that away from me.

Now all I had to worry about was the outcome of this game. I cornered Ali in the locker room, needing to know what would happen.

"Al, we have to lose this game." I told her sadly. She squinted her eyes in confusion.

"What are you talking about? We need to win this game, remember?"

"If we win, then James gets to date one of us, remember?" I mimicked her.

"Correction, James gets to date you." She stated. Now it was my turn to be confused.

"Excuse me? The bet said that he could choose between us."

"Exactly, we both know there's no way in hell he won't choose you."

"Why not?"

"Because, he definitely doesn't like me at all, and plus, he knows that Kendall might like me, total bro code violation, I'm pretty sure."

"Ali, I can't date James."

"Um, are you crazy? He's the most attractive guy in our grade! And he likes you! Why can't you?" I sighed, telling her all about my encounter with Jake Bass. I knew that I'd promised to keep it a secret, but this was a life or death situation here. And plus, James was still an arrogant douchebag, all the time.

"JAKE FUCKING BASS KNOWS YOU?!" She yelled, forcing me to slam my hand over her mouth.

"Geez, Ali. Why not just publish it in People while you're at it?" I muttered indignantly.

"This is crazy." She whispered to me.

"I know! And he said that he'll see me at the game today!"

"So why can't you date James?" She asked, still not getting it.

"Because, what if Jake Bass likes me? And if I'm going out with James, won't he back off? If that happens, I couldn't let him back off. " I said worriedly.

"Blair, you need to think more logically. I know that all this Jake Bass stuff is amazing, but realistically, do you honestly think he likes you? You know that he doesn't go for freshmen." I sighed in resignation.

"Yeah, I guess so. I'm so stupid, getting my hopes up for nothing." Ali nodded in agreement.

"Al!" I yelled, with false annoyance, hitting her lightly as she laughed.

"Sor-ry!"

"But I still can't date James." Ali rolled her eyes, returning the smack.

"What was that for?"

"You know exactly what that was for."

"Ali, he's a total jerk. He's cocky, materialistic, and not to mention a total man-whore." I reminded her.

"And you're sarcastic, snarky, and sometimes a total bitch."

"Ali!"

"_But_…you'll change each other for the better. If he actually likes you and is willing to change his player ways for you, it'll happen." Ali ensured. She could be a total airhead, especially around Kendall, but sometimes, Ali was just what I needed. I reached over to envelop her in a hug.

"Thanks, Al." I said appreciatively. I knew we were gonna win the game, and I was ready to deal with the consequences.

I was much more into the game now. Luckily, we were still on our winning streak, and the game had 2 minutes left. James was doing really well and he kept sneaking looks at me in between calls. I smiled at him when he did, remembering that it was pointless to wait around for a guy who'd never like me when I already had one who I was pretty sure did.

"And another 3-pointer by James Diamond!" The announcer yelled enthusiastically. I shook my pom poms as the crowd went wild.

"Let's do 2 points but change it to 3." I told Julie, who nodded and in turn, told the rest of the squad.

"Hit it!" She yelled, getting into position.

"3 POINTS! 3 POINTS! GIVE IT UP, GIVE IT UP FOR JAMES!" I saw him turn his head towards us, as if he wasn't expecting the cheer. He grinned, showing off his pearly whites and winked in my direction. I tried not to blush or lose my focus as he did so.

"1 minute left in this game, c'mon, Gators!" The announcer encouraged. James scored another basket and the crowd cheered again.

"LET'S GO GATORS!" The crowd chanted, rising up from their seats. The cheerleaders and I joined in.

"LET'S GO GATORS!" I yelled, clapping three times afterward. Another kid on the team scored.

"LET'S GO GATORS!" I glanced up at the scoreboard. 30 seconds left.

"LET'S GO GATORS!" A kid from the other team scored, but we kept our cheer going.

"LET'S GO GATORS!" 15 seconds left.

"LET'S GO GATORS!" The ball was being passed around rapidly, making it hard for anyone to score.

"LET'S GO GATORS!" 10 seconds left.

"LET'S GO GATORS!" 5 seconds left. James had the ball and was all the way on the opposite side of the court, dribbling it down.

"LET'S GO GATORS!" 3 seconds left. 2 seconds left. James extended his arm and shot, hoping for the best. 1 second left. The buzzer sounded as the ball swooshed through the hoop, causing the stands to erupt in cheers.

"YES!" I screamed as loud as I could, seeing the crowd of celebrating people that had formed on the basketball court, spotting James jumping up and down and screaming with ecstasy.

I stood there, obviously still excited, but sort of oblivious to the world around me as I focused in on him. His chiseled, perfect face. His muscles glistening with sweat. His perfectly toned chest that was still visible, even behind his loosely fitting jersey.

Just then, his hazel eyes with specks of gold in them stared into mine from afar. He was staring right at me, and I couldn't stare away. It was strangely different this time, though. Usually when James and I made random eye contact, he winked at me or something of the sort. He wasn't doing anything sexual though, just staring straight back, almost mesmerized, just like I was.

"Blair! Blair! BLAIR!" Julie yelled into my ear, making me blink rapidly to get myself out of my apparent trance. I lost contact with the hazely-gold eyes and instead turned toward a pair of light blue ones that belonged to my co captain.

"C'mon, it's almost time for the Varsity game. We need to fix ourselves up ay-sap." She pulled me into the locker room and beckoned for the other girls to come in. I agreed, forgetting about James and the bet momentarily.

The girls locker room was covered in gold and green glitter, courtesy of both the JV and Varsity cheerleaders. Various types of makeup were strewn across the ledge with the mirrors in front of it, and around 20 girls were standing in front of the ledge, all wearing green, gold, and white Gators uniforms. The Varsity team.

Luckily, the girls on the Varsity team weren't cliche cheerleaders. Upon seeing us, they immediately sat us all down and fixed up our makeup. I found myself being attacked by eyeshadows and glittery eyeliners, and could feel the heat from the curling iron being used on my hair travel up my head.

"Don't move, close your eyes." A Varsity cheerleader named Paige told me. I obliged, feeling pressure on my eyelid as she applied a thin layer of green glitter. She then did something with eyeshadow, and applied numerous coats of mascara. She finished off with a thin coat of gold shimmery gloss that was sure to compliment my eyes.

Then, she picked up the sticker sheet that was sitting on the ledge and placed two mini gold glittery star stickers on the ends of my eyes, perfecting the ultimate cheerleader look. I turned to the mirror and gasped. It was better than anything that I could've ever done, and even my hair was curled to perfection. I thanked Paige and Halle, the girl that had curled my hair and patiently waited for my teammates over by the door.

Once everyone was done, all of the cheerleaders, JV and Varsity, gathered in a circle.

"Alright girls, as a treat, we've decided to join the JV and Varsity teams together, but just for tonight." Marissa, the Varsity captain, told us excitedly. My eyes widened with happiness as she further explained that we wouldn't be cheering directly with them, but we'd be pumping up the crowd by getting them to join in on cheers, even maybe doing a few side-stunts. Julie and I locked eyes ecstatically, giving each other mini hugs, knowing that this was exactly what we needed to prove ourselves to the Varsity team.

"So just spread some spirit throughout the crowd. If you feel a quick back handspring or stunt is necessary, then do it. But don't do it too often, we're still running the show here." Marissa said completely seriously. I nodded, understanding that this was still a Varsity game.

"Okay girls, ready?" She asked, smiling widely. We all put our hands in and lifted them up, cheering loudly before rushing out of the locker room. I glanced at the clock and saw that we had 3 minutes until the game started.

"Be right back." I told Julie.

"Well don't take too long. We can't mess this up." She snapped. I loved Julie, but she could be a total cheer-bitch when she wanted to be.

"Okay…" I walked through the gym doors and found myself walking toward the snack stand, which was decked out in green and gold streamers and plastered with various posters. When one of the girls that was working there saw me, she smiled.

"Hey Blair, whatcha want?" Gianna, one of my good friends, asked me.

"Hey Gi, um, just a cupcake." She grabbed a plain vanilla cupcake with chocolate icing and handed it to me. I gave her the 50 cents that it cost and thanked her.

"Good luck!" She yelled after me as I walked away. Not even after walking 2 feet away, I felt a pair of soft hands over my eyes and an awkward-sounding voice drifted into my ears.

"Guess who?" I honestly couldn't think of anyone, so I guessed.

"Um…Cassidy?" I joked, feeling the pair of hands remove themselves from my eyes. I turned around to see Logan with a hurt expression on his face.

"Cassidy? Really? Love you too, Blair." He said with a twinge of fake annoyance in his voice.

"Aw, Logie, I knew it was you! I just…momentarily forgot!" He rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, just like you momentarily forgot that you had a cupcake in your hand." He laughed, pointing to the destroyed cupcake in my hand.

"Oops. I guess I must've squeezed my hand shut or something." He laughed again.

"C'mon let's hurry and get your hand all cleaned up." He took my cupcake-free hand and led me to the snack stand, politely asking Gianna for a few napkins.

She stared, confused for a second before I held up my icing-covered hand and smiled guiltily.

"Of course." She shook her head with mock disappointment and handed Logan a stack of napkins and a bottle of Purell, who nodded knowingly. He took me over to the nearest free bench, checking the time on his iPhone while he did.

"1 minute, we've got to hurry." He speed-wiped and then handed me the Purell, which I pumped feverishly onto my hand. Logan grabbed the hand that was pumping.

"Woah, slow down there." He cautioned as he wiped about half of the Purell off of my hand, allowing me to press my hands together and rub quickly. When I was clean, I stood up, as did Logan.

"Thanks Logie!" I grinned and gave him a hug, finding that he actually felt pretty strong, as opposed to what I'd thought he would feel like. We pulled away at the same time.

"No problem, now get out there!" He pushed me toward the door and I giggled involuntarily, taking one last glimpse of his chocolate brown eyes and lopsided smile before running back to Julie, who pulled me roughly toward the bleachers.

"You are so lucky, you made it just in time." She told me with a sense of relief on her face. I walked with her up the bleachers, stopping at the very top. At this point, everyone had filed into the gym and was getting pumped.

"LET'S GO GATORS! LET'S GO GATORS! LET'S GO GATORS!" The crowd shouted. I rolled my eyes, didn't they know any other cheers? Julie nudged me and motioned for me to cheer along, so I did.

I saw the Varsity basketball team run through the gym entrance, accompanied by the Varsity cheerleaders. Leading the pack was none other than Jake Bass, who winked…in my direction.

Did Jake Bass just wink at me? There was no way. And why should I even care, I would be with James soon enough, right? I shook the thought from my mind and clapped, cheering louder this time.

Although the whole team had just entered the gym, we still had to introduce all of the starting players. I knew that we should probably go down to line the court and do jumps for each player like the JV cheerleaders usually did during big games. Julie knew what I was doing, so she followed me as I got in line with my fellow JV's. The Varsity cheerleaders had stunt groups at each of the corners of the basketball court as well as four girls who were prepared to tumble when each of the players were called.

I got ready to jump for each of the players. I knew I would only have to do 5 toe touches, because I was on the long end of the court. This would be easy.

"PLAYER NUMBER ONE…ALEX MORGAN!" I jumped on an 8 count, and after I landed, I cheered while watching the tail end of one of the Varsity cheerleaders tumbling.

"PLAYER NUMBER TWO…JOSH MORGAN!" I jumped on the same count, this time, watching the scorpions that all four of the stunt groups did.

"PLAYER NUMBER THREE…COREY COGAN!" Again I jumped, seeing the backflip that Halle, the girl that had curled my hair did.

"PLAYER NUMBER FOUR…LANCE ROSS!" I jumped higher than the previous three for this one, seeing as Lance was my best friend Dan's older brother. He saw me and gave me a quick 'sup' nod before running back to the bench.

"AAAND PLAYER NUMBER FIVE…JAKE BASS!" This time, the crowd erupted with noise; Jake was quite obviously the star of the Varsity team. I jumped with all my might for Jake's introduction, and was feeling amazing until I saw him wink…for the second time that day. I almost tripped over my own feet when I landed, but luckily, I caught myself. Trying not to cause a scene, I smiled and cheered, but saw Jake give me a very knowing look. Shit. He'd definitely seen me almost fall flat on my face. Fabulous. I know I'd told Ali that I wasn't going to bother, but Jake was making doing that pretty damn hard.

I blushed slightly as I cheered my way back up to the bleachers. Julie met me up at the top, telling me that Marissa had announced that "Mighty Varsity" would be the next cheer. We both sat down and waited for Marissa's call.

The buzzer sounded and the ball immediately went to Jake, who instantaneously got a basket. I wasn't lying when I said he was good!

Marissa gave the signal, and I waited for a second before starting the cheer.

"WE ARE THE MIGHTY VARSITY, WE'RE GONNA ROCK OUR TEAM TO A VICTORY!" I yelled.

"HIT IT!" The Varsity team alone screamed.

I did the clapping-snapping part of the cheer and then did it again 3 times, cheering at the end.

By this point, the 5 boys had managed to get another 3 baskets, making the total now 8.

2 minutes. It was seriously down to the wire now. The score was 58-56, and the Aardvarks were in the lead. We had to beat them. We just had to.

I watched intensely as Lance dribbled up the court, passing to Jake, who was prepared to shoot, but was soon blocked by three guys. Realizing his predicament, he passed back to Lance, who instead passed to another kid on the team who's name was Nick. He shot but it was swatted down by one of the opposing team. I groaned.

1 minute, 30 seconds left. Come on, Jake.

The other team shot, but missed, allowing Jake to gain control of the ball again, dribbling it hastily down the court and shooting from the half line. It was a far shot, seeing as he had 2 kids running to block him, but maybe…

"YES!" Everyone cheered as the ball soared into the basket. Jake thrusted his arm inward in a victorious sort of way, before focusing back on the game.

50 seconds left, the pressure was seriously on. Alex passed to Lance, Lance passed to Nick, Nick shot but was again rejected by the other team. Luckily, Jake snatched the ball from the other kid quickly, but he wasn't able to shoot from the angle that he was at. Instead, he passed to Josh, who shot from the foul line and hit the rim.

20 seconds left. Lance forcefully took the ball from the opposite team's player, not even caring about the rules at that moment. He passed feverishly to Josh, who, unfortunately, became surrounded by other guys and couldn't pass the ball without hurting himself.

10 seconds, 'COME ON, JOSH!', I practically screamed in my head. Josh seemed to hear my thoughts and realize that he needed to sacrifice himself, so he dove through the barricade of players and spiked the ball to Jake. Josh fell flat on his face, but he knew it was worth it because in the 5 seconds that were left on the clock, Jake shot from the half line and got a 3 pointer in the last 2 seconds of the game.

Suddenly, a deafening roar came from all around me, and the crowd ran out of the stands to celebrate. I saw Jake and Josh being lifted up by their teammates, Josh still injured but fist-pumping despite it. I joined in with the group of screaming JV and Varsity cheerleaders, feeling so happy that we'd won both games against Alexandria.

Unfortunately for me, this night would only get worse.

* * *

**Cliffhanger? I'm not sure if you guys will expect what happens next, but like I said, it will be a very important addition to the storyline in the future. So...what did you think about Jake? If you haven't already looked on my profile for appearance links, Jake resembles Chace Crawford from Gossip Girl. I hope the pep rally scenes weren't too overdone; I really wanted to emphasize the rivalry aspect of the game and make sure you guys were reminded of the bet. Also, do you think Blair will listen to Ali and take a chance on James, or will she keep fantasizing over Jake? Please take a second to review and let me know what you think about the story so far, this chapter, or your thoughts on these questions! **

**xoxo, Jess**


	5. Chapter 5

**_Authors Note: _****Hey guys! So, I decided to update with Chapter 5 today specifically because...I got my braces off! Yay! Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, it is a pretty big one that includes an event that will be a huge part of the story in the future chapters. I'm not sure if what happens in this chapter would require the story to be rated 'M' from now on instead of 'T', but if one of you lovely readers does know, could you inform me? I don't know if that's a stupid question, but I am new on this site and don't really know if this qualifies or not. Also, I wanted to take a second to answer the reviews I got on the last chapter, so I shall do that now:**

**xobtrxo: Haha, sorry about the cliffhanger! As for Blair trying James jealous, this chapter may have some of that, depending on how you interpret the dialogue at the beginning. And thank you, I really appreciate you saying that! I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so I over-analyze everything before I post anything. **

**kittybookworm: Thank you so much! I was a bit nervous when I first posted it, but so far, I've gotten a really good reception. As for Jake and Blair, you will see what happens with them in this chapter...**

**Disclaimer: Don't own BTR. Seriously wish I did though. **

***I DO NOT CONDONE ANY OF THE EVENTS THAT TAKE PLACE IN THIS CHAPTER (YOU WILL KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT WHEN YOU READ***

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"Be right back, Al. I dropped a pom pom somewhere in the gym, and you and I both know that Julie'll kill me if I don't find it." I called to Ali, walking into the now deserted gym. Everyone had left to either go home, or go out and party, so I didn't think anybody would have a problem with me taking a quick look for my green and gold colored pom pom.

I took an initial glance around, but soon remembered that I'd left it over by the cheerleader's section. Seeing the glittery pom pom from afar, I made my way over, happy that I'd found it and wouldn't have to get yelled at by my co captain.

"Blair?" A voice that I didn't quite recognize questioned from behind me. I turned around, surprised to see the one and only Jake Bass behind me. I was probably more surprised that he'd remembered my name at all. His long, damp with sweat, caramel brown colored hair framed his perfectly shaped face, enhancing his already defined cheekbones. His bright blue eyes shone into mine, making me feel automatically insecure due to their beauty. Why was it that he managed to look absolutely perfect after he'd just finished an intense game of basketball?

"Hi." I mumbled. _Great, Blair, acting all shy in front of the hottest guy in school. That'll earn you some points._

"Forgot something?" He smirked knowingly. I nodded meekly. What else was I supposed to say to him? I mean, I only met him formally earlier today. And it's not like I could just blurt out some reference to a fact about him that I shouldn't even know to start conversation. That would make me look like a complete stalker, which I wasn't, okay? Sure, I knew a few things about him that probably wouldn't be classified as general knowledge (general knowledge to the normal, non-Jake obsessed people in this school), but hey, so did the majority of the girls in this school, so that wasn't weird, right?

"Yeah, I had to stay after for a quick meeting with the team. Everybody's left though, as far as I can see." He answered, even though I didn't get a chance to ask, taking his gaze off of me and glancing around the desolate gym.

"So," Jake turned back to me, something I couldn't register flickering in his eyes, "Do you need help finding whatever it is you lost?" I nodded, forgetting that the missing pom pom was actually in my hands.

"What is it that you lost?" I stared blankly at him, just then realizing that I did, in fact, have the missing pom pom in my hand and that it would be insanely embarrassing to admit to that. After waiting a second for my response, he waved a medium-sized hand in front of my face.

"You okay?" He studied my face, which was paralyzed with embarrassment, and partially nervousness. I shook my head slightly and snapped out of my trance.

"Yeah, I actually just remembered that I found it. So…yeah." I focused awkwardly on my cheer sneakers, trying to trace the stitching on them so that I could distract myself from Jake's beauty.

"You were here for the game, right? I saw you during players." He smiled, and I swear I almost fainted. Instead, I opted for a rather stupid sounding giggle.

"Uh, yeah. You guys were soooooo good!" I gasped slightly after saying that. I was pretty sure that was the most I'd ever said to him, as far as I remembered. And of course, I'd just sounded completely idiotic. _You're really making an intelligent impression right now, keep it up. _

"Haha, thanks. You weren't too bad yourself." Again, that giggle came out. I failed to realize that this wasn't really a funny comment at all, but hey, Jake Bass was talking to me, and that was all that mattered.

"Oh, well, thanks, I guess." I thanked him, trying not to sound too stupid, not that I hadn't accomplished that feat before. He stepped closer to me casually, and now we were only a few inches apart. I felt even more dizzy now. Who gave him the right to have this effect on me, seriously? Not fair.

"You're a really good cheerleader. Pretty, too." He smiled, sending shivers up my spine. And there goes the idiotic giggle...again. I really needed to learn how to control that.

"Thanks..." I trailed off, not being able to control this awkward phase that had come over me suddenly. Jake stepped closer, touching my chin and tilting it upwards slightly. I stared with open eyes at him, in complete shock over what was going on.

"Your eyes…" He began to say.

"Uh...huh?"

"They're…beautiful…just like you." He flashed me a smile, making me melt right there in his presence. And yet, all I could get out of my mouth was another stupid giggle. This giggle was really great at popping up in the worst situations, wasn't it? He stepped closer to me, and now we were mere centimeters apart. Was this real life?

"Ever since I saw you…I couldn't forget your eyes…" He told me dreamily, and then, it happened. He closed the space between us and kissed me. Like, actually kissed me. My eyes were wide open, before I slowly closed them excitedly, enjoying this kiss that would probably never happen again. Not breaking the kiss, he pulled me under the bleachers and pushed me up roughly against the wall, deepening the kiss and sliding his tongue into my mouth. If I thought I was going to faint before, I was definitely dead by now.

I could feel him growing more rough and intense with every second. I ran my hand through his shaggy hair, which was in a similar style to that of James's, and then moved down to squeeze his huge muscles. I'd always dreamed of doing that. Not that I hadn't dreamed of kissing Jake Bass, but you get what I mean.

It was surreal, the fact that Jake Bass had kissed _me_. I mean, he could have any girl he wanted in the entire school, probably in the entire state, and he chose to kiss me? This made absolutely no sense, I was a random freshman who was certainly not the prettiest in her class, by far, and he was the most popular, most sought after senior in the school, so why on Earth would he go for me? It really didn't make any sense whatsoever, but I chose to not question it, afraid that Jake would read my mind or something and agree with the notion that kissing me didn't make any sense.

The kissing paired with my confused thoughts continued for a minute or two more until I felt him begin to slide his hand dangerously high up my skirt. At this, I definitely felt more uncomfortable than blissful. I broke the kiss, staring into his lustful blue eyes.

"Jake, not yet." I laughed easily. He shook his head, ignoring me, moving his hand up further and planting rough kisses along my neckline.

"Ow! Jake, stop." I said still a little lightly, but more forcefully. He ignored me yet again.

"Seriously, stop!" I yelled full-on, attempting to push him away. He was way too strong, and by this point, he was in the process of removing my skirt from the inside. All thought of tonight's previous events flew out the window, replaced by frantic, nervous thoughts that couldn't form a coherent idea. My legs and arms were useless, and it seemed like the more I squirmed, the harder Jake pushed to keep control of me. He'd gotten me right where he wanted me, and I was too blind to realize.

"Oh my god." I whispered, warm tears streaming down my face as I realized exactly what my fate would be if I didn't get help.

"HELP! HELP! HE-" I tried to scream, but Jake smashed his lips against mine and stopped me from yelling. I couldn't breathe, and he'd now completely gotten my skirt off as well as his pants. He grabbed my thighs, squeezing them tightly.

"STOP! HELP! HELP!" I screamed as I managed to pry my lips away from his. I tried to kick him, but I couldn't pull my feet close enough to his body to make contact. I continued kicking and flailing, trying to get away, but Jake only pushed me harder up against the wall and kissed my neck. I could feel intense pain in my back as he clasped onto my wrists so tightly that circulation was barely flowing. He then slammed his mouth against mine again.

"MMM! MMMM!" I yelled into his mouth, hoping somebody would hear, but soon realized that there was nothing left I could do. It was hopeless; I was going to be raped. By Jake Bass. Tears began to form in my eyes, and for a moment, I stared into Jake's, the ones that had captivated me so deeply just moments before, and saw a twinge of guilt, but that was gone as soon as it had come.

I blinked slowly, my eyelids feeling heavy and weighed down. After a few tries, I managed to get them completely open, realizing that I had no idea where I was. The room I was in had dark blue walls, a white colored couch off to one side, and a black flat screen tv that hung on the wall opposite of the bed I was sleeping in. A black hockey stick was propped up against the couch, and a limp Gators basketball jersey and shorts laid discarded over the couch. I shot straight up at seeing this. I looked to the other side of the gigantic bedroom and saw a white modern-style desk that was completely bare excepting a large Mac computer and a white desk lamp.

_Holy shit. Please, don't tell me I'm where I think I am. Please don't let this be his room. Please, God, say it isn't so..._

I gasped and threw off the navy comforter that I had snuggled under. I stared down at my body, thankfully clad in my bloomers and cheer top. I breathed in heavily, but knew that just because I was wearing clothes didn't mean anything, really. Unfortunately, I was also covered in various red bruises, especially on my wrists and a few on my legs. I rose up and tiptoed out of the bed, spotting a black backpack. Quietly zipping it open, I glanced inside and although I only saw two letters of the name on the worksheet stuffed inside, my face paled as I slowly backed away.

I was in Jake Bass's room.

* * *

**Okay, so there you go, Chapter 5. I've been nervous about posting this one especially because I know that it brings in a sensitive issue and changes the plot a lot. I hope that I accurately portrayed the emotions of someone in that situation, and didn't offend anyone in the process. I've had the idea to include this since I thought of the story itself, and if I didn't include this scene, I'd basically have to rewrite half of the story. But anyway, please let me know what you think, I really want to know. Did you expect that to happen? Do you think Jake did rape Blair or did something else happen? What do you think will happen next? Let me know. **

**xoxo, **

**Jess**


	6. Chapter 6

**_Authors Note:_**** Hola, amigas! I'm updating today with Chapter 6, and I may put up Chapter 7 also, but I'm not sure yet. I'm only thinking of doing that because I am going on vacation for a week tomorrow, so I won't be able to update at all, so I might put it out later today. Anyway, what did you think of last chapter? I hope this chapter will explain some of your questions about what happened, and where Blair is. I think that's about it, so here you go!**

**_Disclaimer:_**** I don't own BTR or anything else you might recognize in this chapter, if there is anything. **

* * *

After a few minutes of contemplating about what to do, I realized that the door on the wall across from the bed was emitting steam and what sounded like a shower head was running. He was in the shower. I decided that my best option would be to run for it, so I grabbed my cheer bag, which was sitting on the desk chair.

I tiptoed across the wooden floor, trying not to make a sound. All was going well until a loud squeak filled my ear, and I heard the shower head stop running and the door open. I froze. Not my best idea, but I wasn't exactly sure what to do at that point. Should I make a break for it, or would that just make things worse?

"Blair?"

I turned around and instead of seeing Jake, I saw…James?

"James?" I asked, confused, but still a little nervous.

"I didn't realize you were up. Sorry about the noise." He apologized, looking a little embarrassed. I wondered why.

"What's going on?" I asked, tears in my eyes. A few seconds ago, I was convinced that Jake had gotten his way and was keeping me locked up in his room, but now I was finding that out to be false. How did James come into the picture, anyway?

"It's okay, you're okay now." He walked over to me and attempted to give me a hug, but I recoiled at his touch. Something about him made me nervous, something that I couldn't quite explain. He knit his eyebrows together in confusion, stepping a bit closer to me, but I jumped back hastily, backing up against the wall.

"Are you okay?" He asked, seemingly showing real concern. I bit my lip nervously and forced myself to nod. He didn't dare take another step toward me, though, sensing that it caused me some discomfort. We stood there in silence for a moment until he realized that he was still in nothing but a towel. Normally, the sight of his shirtless, half-naked body would have made me swoon or maybe even faint, but right now, I felt a slightly nauseous, sickening feeling in my stomach.

"Shit. I'll just…yeah." He said awkwardly and walked quickly back into the bathroom to change.

2 minutes later, he emerged wearing a plain white t-shirt and a pair of grey Abercrombie sweatpants. He sat down on the couch, seeing as I was on the bed, still shaking with fear. Another long moment of silence passed as I looked down nervously at my fingernails.

"James, what am I doing here?" I asked, scared to know the answer. I didn't dare look up, afraid of what would happen if I did.

"After…everything, I knew you wouldn't want to go to the party, and I knew you definitely didn't want to go home, so I just brought you here. It's cool, though, my mom's away on business, so it's just me this weekend." He responded, but I couldn't really see his facial expression.

"What do you mean, everything?"

"You don't remember?"

"Remember what? God, James, I'm so confused right now. How did I get here? Did anything happen?" I assumed that he knew what I was referring to. I needed him to tell me something, since I'd blocked out anything after Jake had refused to stop his actions.

"No…well, at least not between us." I looked up to see him run his hand through his hair.

"Oh my god, did I…?" I stopped my sentence and began to cry, hot tears streaming down my face. I couldn't process the thought of me doing that, especially with Jake. How could I have been so stupid? I never thought I'd be one of those typical freshman sluts that jumps on the first senior guy that notices her. James immediately rushed over to me and put his arm around me cautiously, but I quickly moved out of his grasp and curled up in a ball on his bed. Something about his touch worried me, made me feel unsafe.

"No, I don't think so, at least. I got you out of there, don't worry." He assured, and I looked up at him, somewhat relieved. I still didn't understand why I was so skittish when he touched me. Did James hurt me last night? I desperately searched for a memory in the back of my mind, but nothing came to mind.

"You…you saved me?"

"Yeah, but you're lucky I got there when I did." James grimaced. I then realized that he was sporting a rather large bruise on his left cheek. Where did that come from?

"What do you mean? I don't understand." I sobbed into my now soaked uniform top, looking up shortly afterwards to see James looking at me somberly.

"Jake…he tried to rape you. If I wasn't there, he would've done it." I stopped crying, paralyzed by the shock that overcame me. Suddenly, the scene from last night flashed into my mind.

*FLASHBACK TO LAST NIGHT*

_This continued for a minute or two more until I felt him begin to slide his hand up my skirt. At this, I definitely felt more uncomfortable than blissful. I broke the kiss. _

_"Jake, not yet." I laughed easily. He ignored me, moving it up further and planting rough kisses along my neckline. _

_"Jake, stop." I said still a little lightly, but more forcefully. He ignored me yet again. _

_"Jake, Jake! Please stop!" I yelled full-on, attempting to push him away. He was way too strong, and by this point, he was in the process of removing my skirt from the inside. All thought of tonight's previous events flew out the window, replaced by frantic, nervous thoughts that couldn't form a coherent idea. My legs and arms were useless, and it seemed like the more I squirmed, the harder Jake pushed to keep control of me. He'd gotten me right where he wanted me, and I was too blind to realize._

_"Oh my god." I whispered, warm tears streaming down my face as I realized exactly what my fate would be if I didn't get help. _

_"HELP! HELP! HE-" I tried to scream, but Jake smashed his lips against mine and stopped me from yelling. I couldn't breathe, and he'd now completely gotten my skirt off as well as his pants. He grabbed my thighs, squeezing them tightly. _

_"STOP! HELP! HELP!" I screamed as I managed to pry my lips away from his. I tried to kick Jake, but it seemed like he couldn't be moved. I started kicking and flailing, trying to get away, but Jake only pushed me harder up against the wall and kissed my neck. I could feel intense pain in my back as he clasped onto my wrists so tightly that circulation was barely flowing. He then slammed his mouth against mine again. _

_"MMM! MMMM!" I yelled into his mouth, hoping somebody would hear, but soon realized that there was nothing left I could do. It was hopeless; I was going to be raped. By Jake Bass. Tears began to form in my eyes, and for a moment, I stared into Jake's, the ones that had captivated me so deeply just moments before, and saw a twinge of guilt, but that was gone as soon as it had come._

_Suddenly, I heard rapid footsteps coming from the opposite side of the gym. I looked up to see a tall, muscular figure at the entrance of the bleachers. _

_"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" James roared, storming under the bleachers and shoving Jake off of me. I cowered against the wall in fear, watching James punch Jake cleanly across the face. _

_"Dude, chill! It's not a big deal!" Jake protested, receiving another blow, this time, though, it much more intense. _

_"WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? YOU DON'T TREAT GIRLS LIKE THIS! YOU DON'T TREAT ANYBODY LIKE THIS!" James began punching him more frequently now, each one more fierce than the last. _

_"OH YEAH, YOU'RE ONE TO TALK! I KNOW ALL ABOUT YOU, YOU'RE THE BIGGEST PLAYER IN THE FRESHMAN CLASS! YOU'VE ALREADY SLEPT WITH HALF THE GRADE!" Jake retorted, now getting seriously angry. This time, Jake punched James, leaving what I was sure would be a huge bruise. _

_"MAYBE YOU SHOULD CONFIRM YOUR INFORMATION BEFORE YOU GO TRYING TO USE IT! AND EVEN IF THAT WAS TRUE, AT LEAST I'D HAVE THE DECENCY TO STOP IF THEY TOLD ME TO!" I began to cry heavily, putting my face in my hands. _

_"ARE YOU KIDDING? THIS CHICK'S PRACTICALLY IN LOVE WITH ME! I'M MAKING HER DREAM COME TRUE!" Jake screamed. _

_"IF SHE SAID TO STOP, THAT MEANS FUCKING STOP! HOW DARE YOU TRY TO RAPE MY GIRLFRIEND!" James thundered. _

_"OBVIOUSLY YOUR GIRLFRIEND ISN'T TOO SATISFIED WITH YOU BECAUSE SHE WAS PRETTY DAMN READY TO FUCK ME!" Jake retorted with a smirk as James kicked him up against the wall. _

_"SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU FUCKING DOUCHEBAG!" _

_"THE FUNNY THING IS, YOU THINK I CARE ABOUT THIS SLUT. SHE'S JUST ANOTHER WHORE TO CHECK OFF MY LIST." At this, James slammed him into the concrete wall. I heard a distinct crack that definitely could've caused a broken bone or two. _

_"YOU FUCKER! MY WRIST!" Jake screamed. _

_"DON'T YOU EVER FUCKING TALK ABOUT BLAIR THAT WAY AGAIN. HOW DARE YOU ACT LIKE SHE'S SOME WHORE WHO JUST FUCKS EVERYONE SHE SEES? YOU BETTER WATCH YOUR FUCKING BACK, JAKE BASS, UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE ON LIFE SUPPORT ANY TIME SOON." James threatened legitimately. He shoved Jake to the ground. Jake stood up and made his way to the edge of the bleachers._

_"YOU WON'T DO SHIT TO ME, DIAMOND. GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE, AND TAKE THE WHORE WITH YOU! YOU'LL NEVER MAKE VARSITY, YOU HEAR ME? I'LL HAVE YOU KICKED OFF THE TEAM!" Jake thundered spitefully, spitting blood from his gushing lip at James. He stormed out of the bleachers, pulling his shorts back up as he did so. James stood there for a moment, staring with hatred at Jake's retreating figure before he rushed over to me. _

_"Blair, Blair, are you okay? Did he hurt you?" I didn't respond, just cried. James grabbed my skirt and cheer bag and carried me out of the bleachers bridal-style. I rested my head on his strong shoulder, moaning incoherently, and suddenly, everything went black. _

*END OF FLASHBACK*

I buried my head in my hands, feeling like the tears wouldn't ever stop. How could I have been so stupid? To believe that _Jake Bass_ actually liked me. Yeah, right.

"Thanks." After a minute, I slowly lifted my head and looked at him, speaking quietly.

"I won't ever let anything happen to you. He won't get away with this." James said rigidly, pressing his lips together in anger at the pure thought of Jake. I looked down at my wrists, temporarily reexamining my bruises. He turned, gazing into my eyes and I nodded slowly, temporarily hypnotized by his hazely-gold eyes.

"What?" He asked after a minute of me not breaking eye contact. I swiftly turned my head, closing my eyes slowly.

"Is there something on my face?" He asked, seeming genuinely concerned. I shook my head quietly.

"Or are my eyes just too gorgeous to tear yourself away from?" He teased, and I let out a hollow, unemotional laugh.

"Don't flatter yourself." I mumbled. He raised his eyebrows.

"You can joke around, you know that, right?"

"Of course I know that. I don't need you to tell me that." I snapped.

"Well, I wasn't flattering, just telling the truth. I mean it's pretty obvious, don't you think?" He wiggled his eyebrows, trying to showcase his eyes.

"You're not even hot." I said indignantly, folding my arms over my chest.

"Yeah, right. No one can resist this." He wiggled his fingers around his face multiple times while I gazed on in disbelief.

"What was that supposed to be?"

"I came up with it myself, you like it?" He grinned.

"Just as much as I like your lucky comb." He gasped.

"How do you know about that?" He pulled his comb out from nowhere and held it protectively against his chest.

"Please, everybody knows all about your stupid comb."

"Hey, my comb is not stupid."

"Um, it kinda is."

"Nuh-uh!"

"I'm not playing this game." I stopped the 'yeah-huh' 'nuh-uh' game that I despised so much.

"It's a plain black comb, James. Your fascination with it makes no sense whatsoever."

"Well, it means a lot to me!"

"Oh really? What, did your daddy get it for you?" I teased, but stopped upon seeing the hurt look on his face.

"Actually, yeah." He looked away. I knitted my brows together in confusion.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, it's fine."

"You're not okay."

"Yes I am."

"No you're not."

"Yes I a-"

"Sorry, I didn-"

"My dad gave it to me when I was little, before he left us, okay? I don't wanna talk about it."

"Well, I should probably go home or something now." I told him, retreating back into my protective shell. He nodded, as it was clear that we were both in a difficult place right now.

"Okay." He responded blankly. I grabbed my cheer bag and followed him down the modern style staircase into a huge foyer with a gigantic chandelier.

"Nice house." I told him in a monotonous tone.

"Uh, thanks." He scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

I began to head out the door when he stopped me.

"You're just gonna walk home?" He asked with a concerned look in his eyes. I pressed my lips together slightly and nodded quickly.

"It's only a block or so." I told him. We lived in the same development.

"Oh, right." He nodded, not really knowing how to respond. I was halfway out the door when he stopped me, his hand making contact with my wrist. I inhaled sharply and yanked my wrist away from his grasp protectively.

"I…uh…sorry." He apologized quickly, and I nodded.

"What?" I squeaked out feebly.

"Just…be careful." I nodded, biting a small portion of my lip.

"And…the bet's off. I know Ali won't do it anyway since she's with Kendall. I don't think it would be fair, especially after everything last night." I cringed slightly at the thought, but nodded.

"Thanks." I tried to give a slight smile, but it probably came out looking more like a grimace.

"No problem?" He said, but the way that he said it came out more like a question. Gone was that smooth, suave personality that had made me go insane. Instead, James seemed to be less sure of himself, more careful about what he said to me. He nodded, and allowed me to walk out of the door before softly closing it.

* * *

**So, what did you think? Did you expect for it to be James's room instead of Jake's? I put in a little hint in the last chapter that could've helped you figure it out, but I was surprised when someone messaged me and told me that they realized it after seeing the clue. I probably never would've figured that out, haha. What do you think will happen with James and Blair now that this new drama is added in? Why do you think Blair is so skittish around James, and do you think she will be that way around anyone else? What do you think Blair and/or James will do about Jake? And also, do you think Blair will tell anyone else? Feel free to answer any/all of these questions or do a general review! If you have any criticisms of the story, review and let me know, I would love to know how I can improve. **

**xoxo, **

**Jess**


	7. Chapter 7

**Authors Note: Hi guys! First, I want to say that I am incredibly sorry for not updating for what, over a month now? As I said in the previous chapter, I was on vacation for a week (which was absolutely amazing, btw!), and literally one day after, I started my junior year in high school, which, if you live in the States, is considered the hardest year (at least in my area). I have a ton of extracurriculars, a huge school event to help plan, driving lessons, and SATs, so I'm not sure how often this will be updated, regardless of the fact that I have a decent amount of the story written already. Even though I know for a fact that I won't be able to update all the time, I wanted to let you guys know that I am still dedicated to the story and want to make something out of this. Anyway, like I said, I'm so so so sorry, I hope you all forgive me. I saw that the reviews that you guys wrote were mostly about Blair's reaction to James in the last chapter, and how it was kind of weird...I hope this chapter will explain it somewhat, or at least refer to the issue in some way. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own BTR, or anything else you might recognize in this chapter. **

* * *

"Oh my god, there she is!" I heard Ali's frantic voice sound from my kitchen as I walked through the door. Sighs of relief filled the air as my close friends and Ali enclosed me in a tight hug. I felt strangely comfortable at their touch, so why did I cringe at even the slightest touch from James?

"I can't breathe." I choked out, at which they all immediately released me.

"Thanks." I tried to escape upstairs, but Bella, who had just entered the room, grabbed my arm, just like James had done. However, instead of feeling threatened or even scared, I just felt a twinge of annoyance. I yanked my arm out of her grasp.

"Don't touch me." I demanded.

"You didn't show up to the party last night, according to your friends, and you didn't even come home! Don't tell me that I can't stop you from escaping, once again!" Bella yelled, obviously frustrated.

"I'm fine, okay? I want to be alone." I said, turning again to go upstairs.

"You're _fine_? You think that really makes everything okay? Do you know that I was worried sick about you? I called every single kid in your grade last night, you're just lucky I didn't try the police!"

"Well, I'm here now, isn't that all that matters?" I stated, and Bella laughed angrily.

"Are you fucking kidding me? You're so goddamn lucky Mom and Dad are away for the weekend, otherwise there'd be a search warrant out for you right now."

"Maybe you should've put one out."

"Where the hell were you? I am not going to let this go!"

"You know what, maybe it's actually none of your fucking business, did you ever think about that?" I screamed.

"We're just worried about you." Ali begged. I rolled my eyes.

"You know what, if you were so worried, maybe you would have tried a little harder to make sure I was okay. But clearly, you weren't all that concerned since I'm obviously not okay." I said coldly, pushing them away as I ascended the curved staircase. I could hear Bella storming up the staircase after me, but I didn't care. I stormed into my room, locking the door behind me. I then collapsed onto my bed and started sobbing heavily again.

Soon, Bella's screams as well as my sobs subsided and I fell into sleep.

_I was in a large, empty room. The walls were black and I couldn't see much of anything, even if there was something-or someone in the room. _

_"Hello?" I called out warily. No answer._

_"Hello? Is anyone here?" _

_"Hello? Hello?" I suddenly heard a long and vicious growl from behind me. I swiveled around and saw Jake, wearing all black, with a sinister look on his face. _

_"Jake?" I whimpered uncertainly. He laughed loudly. _

_"Of course it's me, you little bitch. Who else would it be?" _

_"Maybe me?" Another familiar voice sounded from the darkness, and out stepped James, in similar attire with the same look on his face. _

_"James? Have you come to save me?" I pleaded. He chuckled at my begging for mercy. _

_"Save you? You're pathetic, you know that?" He smirked, stepping closer to me, only I couldn't scurry away as I did in real life. He extended his pointer finger and dragged it down my exposed arm at a painstakingly monotonous pace. I tried to push him off, but my body wasn't responding to my pleas. _

_"I'm not pathetic! Stop!" I yelled desperately. _

_"I'm not pathetic! Stop!" Jake mimicked, causing James to laugh. _

_"Look at her, she's terrified by my slight touch. It's hilarious, you try." James urged Jake to touch me. I shook with fear as Jake's hand with long, slender fingers approached my body. He grabbed my arm, dragging his hand up and down my arm, smirking at the obvious pain it caused me. _

_"She really is pathetic. Can't even have a boy touch her for more than a second without gagging." Jake laughed sadistically. Tears began to stream down my face. Jake and James laughed at the sight. _

_"Did you actually think you were my girlfriend?" James seemed to gag at the thought. _

_"Of course she did, just as how she thought I wanted her for more than sex." Jake laughed mirthlessly. _

_"Shut up." I cried, Jake's hand still on my arm, torturing me. _

_"Why would anyone ever want you? You're nothing…nothing at all." Jake's cold eyes bored into mine. _

_"James, I know you're not like him. Stop, please, make him stop." I cried. _

_"You like me, I know it. You're good, please." At this, James and Jake almost doubled over in evil laughter. _

_"Like you? How could anyone? I would rather fuck the entire freshman class than date you…oh wait, I already did." He and Jake began to laugh and point, making fun of me. _

_"That's not true! You love me! You love me! You love me! You love me!" I screamed, trying to stop their laughter. _

_"Blair! Blair!" The both of them suddenly screamed. _

"Blair!" I jolted up in bed, hearing the pounding on my door undoubtedly coming from Bella.

"What's going on? Are you okay?" She screamed.

"I'm fine." I croaked out.

"That's bullshit." She stated, yanking on the door handle, trying to get it to open.

"Leave me alone!" I cried.

"You're not okay! Let me in!" I shook my head, yelling back to her that I wouldn't let her in.

"Did you have a nightmare? Calm down and tell me what it was about." I could imagine Bella tucking a strand of her curly blonde hair behind her ear, one of her nervous habits. Even though we were sisters, you wouldn't know it. Maybe our faces, a little. But my hair and eyes were chocolate brown, while hers was a gorgeous natural blonde that a lot of girls would kill for. The other weird thing…she had naturally curly hair, mine was pretty wavy. We were both pretty tall, though.

"I…I can't." I bit my lip, a nervous habit of mine, if you hadn't noticed.

"I'm worried about you, B." That makes two of us.

"I don't remember what happened." I lied through my teeth, clearly remembering every single thing that James and Jake had said to me in the dream.

"Don't even try to pull that crap with me, I can tell when you're lying, even if I can't see you!"

"Blair! I am your sister, you can't fool me." She banged again on the door. I jumped up from my bed, and stormed over to the door, unlocking it and pulling it open harshly.

"Bella, I don't remember the nightmare. Leave it alone." I demanded.

"You know what, if you don't want my help, you won't get it." She shook her head in disbelief, turning to walk away, but adding one last comment:

"Go take a shower, you look like a mess."

"Thanks." I replied, a huge amount of sarcasm in my voice. I slammed the door, locking it behind me again. I sighed but decided to take her advice, retrieving my purple fluffy robe from the closet and going into my personal bathroom. My bathroom was mostly creme colored, similar to my room, with purple towels, soap dispensers, and other various purple things scattered around the room. I slipped off my robe and stepped into the shower, allowing the warm water to run freely down my body. The shower actually felt like pure heaven, almost like a cleansing of sorts.

When I stepped out of the shower, I put my robe back on, feeling refreshed and less fragile than before. Then, I heard the familiar jingle coming from my iPhone; somebody was calling me. I raised an eyebrow, and checked the caller id. Cassidy. I debated for a second whether I wanted to pick up, seeing as she'd probably grill me with questions about where I was last night, but I ended up pressing talk anyway.

"Hello?" I asked as was expected.

"Blair, what is going on? Where were you? Wha-"

"I told you, I'm not doing this right now." I tried to change the subject, running my hand through my wet hair.

"Fine, I won't argue with you." She resigned easily.

"Is that all you called about?"

"No. I was calling to know if you wanted to go to the mall." I again debated the idea in my head. Was I stable enough to go to the mall right now? On the other hand, it might be good to escape the drama for an hour or so, and indulge in the best kind of therapy there was-retail therapy.

"Um…sure."

"Can Bella drive us?" Cassidy asked. Since Bella was 17, she had her license.

"Probably. I guess i'll pick you up in 10?"

"Kay, bye." She said, as I hung up the phone. I dropped my phone onto the bed, picking out a pair of grey leggings and a grey sweater that was almost the same shade as the leggings. Quickly applying some minimal makeup, I grabbed my crossbody style purse and my winter jacket before slipping into my charcoal grey Uggs.

"Bella!" I yelled, waiting for a response. I heard a door swing open and saw her come out of her room, which was across the big upstairs hallway.

"What?" She asked, probably annoyed that I was taking her away from whatever she was doing.

"Can you drive Cassidy and I to the mall really quickly?" She folded her arms over her chest and laughed hollowly.

"Oh, so now you're asking for favors? After that whole incident last night and the scene you made this morning? Yeah, right." She rolled her eyes and laughed before starting to turn back to her room.

"Cass, come on!" I asked impatiently. Yeah, I could see why she was angry, but I really was in no mood to deal with her right now.

"Why the hell should I, hmm?" She swerved around, arms still over her chest.

"Because, I'm still your sister. And I don't think it's fair to penalize me just because I'm not ready to talk about something that happened to me." I argued.

"Whatever." She said unreadably, going into her room to retrieve her car keys.

"Aaaaah!" A girlish, high-pitched scream sounded from outside of the car. I frantically opened the door of Bella's white Lexus and looked around, not expecting to see Cassidy, face first in the Minnesota snow. I laughed loudly and got out of the car, pulling her up to reveal her snow-covered face.

"Should I even ask?" I laughed as she pouted.

"I tripped over something. And now I'm all gross." Cassidy complained, attempting to wipe some of the snow off of her face.

"It'll melt. Let's go." She began to open her mouth to protest, but decided against it for some reason.

We climbed into the car and drove off.

"Be done by 5. I'm going out later. Don't be late." Bella told Cassidy and I before we got out of the car, giving me a death stare.

"Whatever. I replied, opening the car door and stepping carefully over the snow, landing on the stone ground. Cassidy did the same. The second we slammed the doors, Bella drove off without a second look. We both rolled our eyes and hurried inside, eager to escape the -14 degree weather. Plus, it seemed like it would rain any second, and we definitely didn't want to take any chances.

"Can we go to Nordstrom? I saw this adorable pair of heels there that I just have to get." Cassidy asked as she fluffed her white blonde wavy hair, automatically going into shopping mode.

"Yeah, but I want to run to Victoria's Secret first. They have a deal where you buy something and get a bag for 5 dollars. You and I both know that I can't resist a VS bag." She laughed, knowing how I was obsessed with Victoria's Secret's tote bags.

"Sounds good. Can we get something to eat too? I am so craving lo mein."

"Lo mein sounds amazing right now. And with a spring roll?" Cassidy nodded as we strutted off toward the Victoria's Secret. As we entered the store, an overload of perfume scents wafted into my nose, filling it with a combination of good scents. Yes, retail therapy would_ definitely_ work. For a moment, all of the negative thoughts and concerns about Jake and James drained from my head.

"I think I want to get a pair of sweatpants." I told Cassidy, who was eyeing the sweatpants as well.

"Same here. I don't want the ones that are cinched at the bottom though. Those are so annoying." She fingered a pair of neon pink sweatpants.

"I hate those kinds! The other ones are so much more comfortable!" I agreed, picking up a navy blue PINK bag that you would use to put merchandise in, and put in a pair of green, purple, and yellow ones. Cassidy did the same but put in a pair of pink, green, and orange.

"These bags are so cute! What do you think, the orange or the black?" I asked Cassidy, observing both. I was leaning more toward the orange one; the black was something I had seen a lot.

"Definitely orange. Black is so overused." She told me, picking up a pink one for herself.

"Agreed." I said as I picked one up and put it in the bag.

"Let's go try this on before we buy out the whole store." I joked, fully knowing that if we looked any further, we would be in serious debt.

"Let's."

5 minutes later, Cassidy and I left PINK with two pink tote bags, and a pair of sweatpants each. (I got purple, Cassidy got pink). Although we wanted to shop some more, we both agreed that we were ridiculously hungry. We stopped at a Japanese food place in the food court of the mall.

"Umm…one order of lo mein, a spicy tuna roll, and two spring rolls, please." Cassidy ordered first.

"One order of lo mein, a small bowl of fried rice with vegetables, a California roll, and a spring roll." I handed the cashier 20 dollars, and she instructed us to wait down at the end of the window for our food. I leaned against the counter, scanning the food court to see if I recognized anyone. I always saw someone from school at the mall. Actually, I usually saw someone I knew everywhere, since it was such a small town.

"Anyone here?" Cassidy turned and did the same thing as I did.

"Not that I see." Suddenly, Cassidy shrieked and turned so quickly, that if I'd blinked, I might have missed it.

"What?" I questioned, seeing the terrified look on her face. I scanned the crowd, trying to figure out who she was talking about.

"Oh my god, turn away, turn away. Don't let him see you staring." Cassidy pulled me, trying to turn me around.

"Who?" I asked, standing on my tip toes to see who she was referring to.

"God, turn around, will you?" She begged, and I obliged only because I couldn't see anyone that I knew.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Do not turn around again. What if he sees us, oh my god, what if he sees us?" Cassidy worried to herself. I grabbed her face and turned it to mine, staring straight into her pale blue eyes.

"WHO ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" I said loudly and clearly, attracting unneeded attention.

"Jake Bass is here. I swear to God." She said excitedly, and I paled instantly. Jake. My body temperature became icy, my eyes glazed over, and I immediately flashed back to last night.

*FLASHBACK*

_"WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? YOU DON'T TREAT GIRLS LIKE THIS! YOU DON'T TREAT ANYBODY LIKE THIS!" James began punching him more frequently now, each one more fierce than the last. _

_"OH YEAH, YOU'RE ONE TO TALK! I KNOW ALL ABOUT YOU, YOU'RE THE BIGGEST PLAYER IN THE FRESHMAN CLASS! YOU'VE PROBABLY ALREADY SLEPT WITH HALF THE GRADE!" Jake retorted, now getting seriously angry. This time, Jake punched James, leaving what I was sure would be a huge bruise. _

_"MAYBE YOU SHOULD CONFIRM YOUR INFORMATION BEFORE YOU GO TRYING TO USE IT! AND EVEN IF THAT WAS TRUE, AT LEAST I'D HAVE THE DECENCY TO STOP IF THEY TOLD ME TO!" I began to cry heavily, putting my face in my hands. _

_"ARE YOU KIDDING? THIS CHICK'S PRACTICALLY IN LOVE WITH ME! I'M MAKING HER DREAM COME TRUE!" Jake screamed. _

_"IF SHE SAID TO STOP, THAT MEANS FUCKING STOP! HOW DARE YOU TRY TO RAPE MY FUCKING GIRLFRIEND!" James thundered. _

_"OBVIOUSLY YOUR GIRLFRIEND ISN'T TOO SATISFIED WITH YOU BECAUSE SHE WAS PRETTY DAMN READY TO FUCK ME!" Jake retorted with a smirk as James kicked him up against the wall. _

_"SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU FUCKING DOUCHEBAG!" _

_"THE FUNNY THING IS, YOU THINK I CARE ABOUT THIS SLUT. SHE'S JUST ANOTHER WHORE TO CHECK OFF MY LIST." _

*FLASHBACK OVER*

_Just another whore to check off my list. _The dialogue repeated itself over and over in my head, to the point where it was sickening, and maybe I was even starting to believe it. Maybe I was a whore, for being so eager for Jake's attention. Or letting him kiss me, when I knew, deep down, that he didn't care at all. Maybe I did ask for it. Maybe this whole thing _was_ my fault after all.

"Blair?" Cassidy's perky voice snapped me back to reality.

"Where?" I whispered to her, too scared to see him and make eye contact with him or something.

"By the pizza place. Don't look for too long, I don't want him to see us." I glanced over at the pizza place, and sure enough, there he was, in all his glory. I wasn't sure how I was feeling, sort of a combination between terrified and insanely angry. I narrowed my eyes in anger and tore my eyes away from him.

"Trust me, I don't either." I bit my lip nervously. Cassidy's expression changed from worried to confused in a second.

"Are you okay?"

"Just peachy." I deadpanned, snatching my food tray off of the counter, not even bothering to say thank you or to wait for Cassidy. I fought the temptation to run my hand through my hair and settled for staring straight down at my tray, biting my lip fiercely. I heard footsteps running after me, undoubtedly Cassidy.

"Blair, what the hell is wrong with you?" She whipped me around, staring into my eyes with concern.

"Nothing, okay, Cass? Drop it." I snapped. I walked over to a table and she followed, silently.

"Okay….do you want me to get us smoothies?" Cassidy set her food down on the table, asking calmly.

"Do you want me to come?" I asked, putting mine down as well.

"Are you gonna relax?" She raised her eyebrow.

"Whatever, if you want to go alone, go alone." I handed her a 5 dollar bill and she rolled her eyes. I didn't mean to be such a bitch, but I didn't want to risk the possibility of seeing Jake.

"What kind?"

"Strawberry banana is fine, I guess." She turned around and set off for the smoothie place.

Why couldn't I just tell her? This was ridiculous, Cassidy was one of my best friends. Why couldn't I tell anybody about it, actually? I had to tell somebody about it sooner or later. Just not now. Honestly, I would rather Cassidy be confused and mad right now than have her cause a scene and try to kill Jake. And besides, I was probably going to tell Ali first anyway, with her it would probably come out more naturally. Just then, I heard a little ping from my phone. A message from Cassidy popped up on my phone.

**Cassisduhhbomb:** What flavor again?

I let out a tiny laugh at her forgetfulness. Cassidy was the most forgetful person I knew, I could literally tell her something and she would forget it the next second. I typed 'strawberry banana' into the text box and sent it. And yes, Cassidy's name in my phone was 'Cassisduhhbomb', a name that she randomly put in one day and I just didn't feel like changing.

I suddenly heard footsteps hurriedly approaching, and looked up to see Cassidy's small, 5"3 figure practically sprinting toward me. Meaning to simply put the drinks on the table, she accidentally made them slide threateningly across the table. Luckily, I caught them just in time for Cassidy to fall into her seat.

"What are you doing?" I asked Cassidy, handing her the light orange-colored smoothie. She fanned herself excitedly, regained her composure and managed to speak clearly, her pale blue eyes staring into mine.

"I might faint in a second, so if I do, don't freak out too much." I leaned closer to her and narrowed my eyes, trying to comprehend what she had just said.

"What are you talking about?"

"I…I'm serious, Blair. If I faint, don't spaz."

"Why would you faint?"s

"Something crazy just happened." She took a sip, more like a gulp, of her smoothie while a confused look remained on my face.

"What happened?"

"It was all so sudden."

"Cassidy." I demanded forcefully. She breathed in deeply and grinned widely.

"I just got Jake Bass's number!"

* * *

**What did you think? This was more of a filler chapter, I guess, but still. I know the plot lines in the story description haven't really been brought up yet, but I promise they will be, I have more things planned for this story that just can't come up yet. Also, I know it might have seemed sudden and unrealistic to make Blair decide to go shopping right after all of the drama, but I intended it to be a way for her to temporarily forget about everything...until she sees Jake of course. I hope it seemed like a realistic enough way of temporarily coping, since I hate when writers add in events that don't make sense with the storyline or happen way too quickly. Anyway...do you think Blair's decision to kind of push everyone away and isolate herself after she got back from James's was justifiable? What did you think about Blair's dream, does it mean something? And what do you guys think will happen with Cassidy and Jake; how will Blair react if something does happen? Feel free to answer any or all of these questions, ask your own questions, or just review and tell me what you liked/disliked, etc. **

**xoxo, **

**Jess**


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